BackSaradha scam: CBI registers 46 FIRs
Charges relate to cheating, criminal breach of trust and conspiracy, CBI spokesperson said
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New Delhi/Kolkata: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has formally begun a probe ordered by the Supreme Court into a ₹ 2,000 crore deposit-taking scam involving the Kolkata-based Saradha Group, which ran aground more than a year ago and defrauded small investors of at least ₹ 2,000 crore.
On Wednesday, the CBI registered 46 first information reports (FIRs) in the case—the first step in any investigation it carries out.
CBI is looking at the role of regulatory authorities and is trying to track the money trail in the politically sensitive and high-profile case, an agency spokesperson said.
On 9 May, the Supreme Court ordered the CBI to investigate the operations of deposit-taking firms in West Bengal and Odisha, including Saradha Group, citing the inability of the state police to trace where the money has been stashed and the possible involvement of several politicians and others “wielding considerable clout and influence"—both in the state and at the Centre. “Other documents related to Saradha Group are being scrutinized and are likely to result in the registration of more FIRs," the CBI spokesperson added.
Saradha was one of eastern India’s biggest deposit-taking firms, which went bust in April last year after it defaulted on repayments to depositors.
The firm allegedly caused an estimated loss of more than ₹ 2,000 crore to 1.7 million small investors. These estimates were given by a commission set up under the chairmanship of former Allahabad high court chief justice Shyamal Sen.
As many as 43 FIRs have been registered in Odisha and three have been registered in West Bengal, the CBI spokesperson said. The charges relate to cheating, criminal breach of trust and conspiracy.
“These FIRs cover the four frontrunner companies of the said group," the CBI said in a statement.
On 20 May, the agency said that a special investigation team looking into the case had met the chief secretaries and directors general of police of West Bengal and Odisha and had made a formal request for the transfer of documents related to the case.
Some of the people who have been booked by the CBI include Sudipta Sen, chairman and managing director of the Saradha Group; Debiyani Mukherjee, director of the group; their business associate Arvind Singh Chouhan; Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha member Kunal Ghosh; Manoj Kumar Nagel, director of Saradha Realty; and Somnath Datta, vice-president of Saradha’s media group and former leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).
The probe has begun even as West Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress is weighing whether to build bridges with the new central government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The first step towards that was sending two top party leaders to the swearing-in ceremony of Modi, even though West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee stayed away from the celebration and has not yet bothered to call up and congratulate Modi.
Banerjee’s condolence message on union minister Gopinath Munde’s demise after a car accident on Tuesday is also being seen as an overture to the Centre.
“We cannot afford to remain hostile to the Centre; after all many issues relating to the financial health and development of the state are concerned. The BJP leaders in the election campaign had promised financial package, including the much sought after moratorium on three years’ of interest and repayment totalling ₹ 22,000 crore on its debt," said a Trinamool Congress leader on conditions of anonymity.
Whether it is the CBI probe or the sop of a debt restructuring package to the state, the Trinamool Congress leadership is not raising the pitch against the Modi government, even though a five-member Central team had visited the areas where BJP supporters were attacked by Trinamool Congress workers and criticized the government for not taking action.
“We have our own political compulsion of maintaining a safe distance from the BJP, but at the same time, we are not fools to antagonize the Centre," said the same Trinamool Congress leader cited earlier.
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