The CBI on Saturday arrested Shib Narayan Das in connection with the Saradha scam. A .38 fully-loaded revolver along with ammunition was seized from Das, who is said to be one of the many advisers of the Saradha CMD, Sudipta Sen.
According to CBI spokesperson, Das was a founder member of Saradha Realty, an outfit of the Saradha Group and is said to have convinced Sen to start a chit fund company and lure investors to deposit in their schemes in 2008.
CBI sources said that after founding the Saradha group on July 8, 2008, Sen had appointed Das as the director and shareholder. Sources said, it was suggested by Das that while 30 per cent of the deposits would be retained by them, the rest could be returned to investors after 10-12 years at a decent interest.
Notice had earlier been served at Das’ residence. He neither received them; nor did he join the investigation. “He was on the run. On getting source information today, he was detained. After thorough interrogation, he was arrested,” the spokesperson said.
The CBI also conducted raids in a number of other chit fund companies spread across North 24 Parganas, sources said adding a number of vital documents were seized during the raids.
Searches were conducted in various chit fund offices including in the houses of the directors of those companies. Officers raided chit offices at Khardaha, Sodepur, Habra and Barrackpore Agency sourcessaid adding cases of criminal breach of trust, cheating, criminal conspiracy and violoation of Prize Chits and Money Circulations Scheme Act had already been lodged against these companies a few months ago.
Meanwhile, the officials conducting the raid said the agency was also investigating into the circumstances under which the Kolkata Corporation issued trade licenses to a number of companies working under the Saradha group and functioning from a single address at Behala in South Kolkata.
Most of these companies were used for money laundering purposes the agency sources suspected. The agency was also investigating into the possible role of some central agencies into the scam.
Mukul back in Kolkata
In a related development Trinamool Congress all-India general secretary Mukul Roy on Saturday returned to Kolkata after a brief stay in Delhi. “I had been to Delhi as I had some work in the Election Commission and I have returned now,” Roy said after returning to the State Capital. He has been summoned in the Saradha case by the CBI and was likely to visit the Agency in the next week.