The CBI on Tuesday asked the State investigative agencies in West Bengal, Odisha and North-east to hand over all the relevant documents related to the inter-State Saradha chit fund scam probe to it.
CBI officials in these States are already in touch with the agencies there to get hold of the necessary documents before registering an FIR in the scam,” said a senior CBI official, adding the
collection of documents will be completed in the next two weeks and thereafter a strategy to register FIRs will be thrashed out.
The agency has already set up a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the scandal and suspect that that larger conspiracy was involved and did not rule out the involvement of highly influential persons including politicians, bureaucrats and regulatory officials.
On Friday the apex court ordered the CBI to launch a probe the inter-state Saradha deposit-mobilisation scandal involving many companies, in Bengal, Odisha, Assam and Tripura. led by Rajeev Singh, joint director (North East), the SIT will comprise CBI officials from Calcutta, Odisha, Northeast and Bihar.
The apex court had raised big a question mark on the role of regulatory authorities like SEBI and officials of the RBI. “Investigations conducted so far put a question mark on the role of regulatory authorities like SEBI, Registrar of Companies and officials of the RBI within whose respective jurisdictions and areas of operation the scam not only took birth but flourished unhindered,” a bench headed by Justice TS
Thakur said in the order. The deposit-mobilisation racket, involving about `10,000 crore at a conservative estimate, also has inter-state ramifications and possible international money-laundering angle.
“Our focus of the probe is to unearth the larger conspiracy. We are taking legal opinion on whether to register one FIR in the case or more,” said the agency’s official.
The agency will also probe the role of regulators like SEBI, officials under the Companies Act and the Reserve Bank of India as directed by the Supreme Court.