CBI Director Ranjit Sinha on Monday wrote a letter to West Bengal Chief Secretary Sanjay Mitra, requesting him to provide all the details/documents relating to the multi-crore Saradha Group chit-fund scam and extend logistical and man power support in unraveling the mega scandal.
The agency is collecting all the relevant documents related to the inter-state deposit-mobilisation racket of the Saradha Group against which probes were underway in various States. The CBI is seeking these documents before registering FIRs, official sources said.
Following a Supreme Court order, the CBI has taken over the probe into the estimated Rs 10,000-crore scandal across the States of West Bengal, Odisha, Assam and Tripura. The agency has formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe and unravel the entire racket. It is also probing the role of officials of regulatory bodies like the Stock Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Registrar of Companies (RoC) and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
FIRs will be registered in the matter after the CBI examines all the documents received from the States and their agencies. Respective State Governments have filed close to 400 FIRs and the CBI plans to restrict the number of cases by clubbing similar cases, the sources said.When contacted, Sinha confirmed having written a letter to the West Bengal Chief Secretary seeking the documents related to the scam and extending logistical help and manpower support to probe the case.
“The CBI has asked the concerned agencies in other States to part with the documents. After scanning the documents we will start recording statements of the arrested persons along with some politicians and MPs said to be involved in the racket,” the sources said.The thrust of the investigation is on the larger conspiracy involving politicians, bureaucrats, regulatory body officials and other influential people.
CBI special director Anil Kumar Sinha is monitoring the progress in the probe under the overall supervision of the CBI Director. The scale of the scam in Bengal alone is estimated to the tune of about Rs 2,500 while several Trinamool Congress leaders and associates face allegations of links with Saradha Group.
Enforcement Directorate (ED) is separately probing the money laundering violation by the Saradha Group. The ED is planning to file the first charge-sheet in the case by early July.
“A case under the provisions of the Prevention of Money laundering Act and the ED has unearthed evidence of about Rs 800 crore suspicious money trail. There is some political nexus which aided it’s cash-collection operations. The money trail will find mention in our first charge-sheet which will be filed early July,” an ED source said.