New Delhi: Around 5 lakh Sahara Group investors are planning to stage a huge protest demonstration in the national capital in December to exert pressure on the Union government to demand the return of the money that they had invested over the years.With the death of Group founder Subrata Roy on November 14, there is a heightened sense of insecurity and urgency on the part of investors who are spread across 27 states across the country. With the portal launched by the Union government in July to facilitate the refunds yet to take off and the allegations against authorities that claims are being rejected on “frivolous grounds”, there is consternation among lakhs of investors who fear that their money would be transferred to Consolidated Fund of India in the name of unclaimed funds.Abhay Dev Shukla, president of a registered body representing the Sahara investors, told The Hindu that if the government confiscated the Sahara chairperson’s property, “the money of crores of investors will be lost, which cannot be tolerated at any cost”.“In December, depositors from all over the country will reach Delhi’s Jantar Mantar and will gherao (surround) the offices of the Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and the Prime Minister’s Office,” Shukla told the newspaper.The Union government on July 18 launched the Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies (CRCS) portal (mocrefund.crcs.gov.in) for small investors in four cooperatives — Sahara Credit Cooperative Society Limited, Saharayn Universal Multipurpose Society Limited, Humara India Credit Cooperative Society Limited, and Stars Multipurpose Cooperative Society Limited. These were registered from March 2010 to January 2014, in Lucknow, Bhopal, Hyderabad, and Kolkata, respectively, under the provisions of the Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act, 2002.Shukla had earlier said that the real intention behind such a portal is to give Roy “an escape route” from multiple legal cases against him. He had questioned the rationale behind capping the refunds at Rs 10,000 irrespective of the value of investments.“Except his (Roy’s) wife, none of the family members are in India. How will we get our money back? The portal launched by the Union government was only to mislead the people. 99.99% of investors have not got their money back. Claims are being rejected on frivolous grounds,” he had alleged.According to Shukla, there are 85 lakh depositors in Uttar Pradesh, 55 lakh depositors in Bihar, 4 lakh in Jharkhand, 18 lakh in Rajasthan, 20 lakh in Odisha, 14 lakh in West Bengal, eight lakh each in Gujarat and Assam, six lakh in Chhattisgarh, five lakh each in Haryana and Delhi, four lakh in Andhra Pradesh, and three lakh each in Telangana and Maharashtra. In Madhya Pradesh alone, he said there are about 1.5 crore Sahara investors.Union home minister Amit Shah had promised in July, during the launch of the portal, that 1.7 crore investors would benefit in the first phase and claims up to Rs 10,000 would be settled first. The money would be returned to the Aadhaar-linked bank accounts of the investors within 45 days, he had added.