Cheating, criminal breach of trust filed by CBI
The CBI on Saturday registered two fresh cases against Saradha Group and its chairman Sudipto Sen in connection with alleged cheating of investors in Assam by the company. CBI sources said the cases of alleged cheating and criminal breach of trust have been registered by the agency’s special crime branch in Kolkata. The CBI has also formed a special investigation team (SIT), headed by Joint Director Rajeev Singh, to probe the entire chit fund scam and the role of the regulatory agencies like the RBI and SEBI.
The agency has received a reference from the Assam Government to probe alleged duping of investors in the State by Saradha and its group companies by offering lucrative interest on their savings, the sources said.
With these two cases, the total number of cases against Saradha Group stands at six in which Sen, and other senior office-bearers of the company besides Trinamool MP Kunal Ghosh, Srinjoy Bose and State Transport Minister Madan Mitra have been named as accused. Besides Sen, Ghosh, Bose and Mitra have been undergoing judicial custody in the scam.
In the chit fund scam, the agency has so far registered about 50 cases in Odisha, six against Saradha in West Bengal and is now extending its probe into the fraudulent activities of the Ponzi companies in Assam.
Earlier, the agency had arrested some important personalities from Assam, including singer Sadananda Gogoi for being part of Saradha Group. It is alleged that Gogoi had taken `4 lakh to make a documentary on Sudipto Sen’s factory in Assam. It is also alleged that he introduced Sen to many influential persons of the State, including politicians and bureaucrats.
The interstate chit fund racket is estimated to have duped thousands of investors of over `10,000 crore and the Saradha Group’s involvement is estimated to be between `2,500 crore to `3,000 crore.
However, the capital formation by the Saradha Group and its companies was limited to `66 crore and the remaining funds collected from small time investors was either frittered away on costly operations of the companies and the hefty commission given to the agents. This besides, a major chunk of the fund collected also allegedly changed hands with the top administration officials and political leaders.