Active Stocks
Tue Mar 19 2024 15:58:41
  1. Tata Consultancy Services share price
  2. 3,977.55 -4.03%
  1. Tata Steel share price
  2. 148.65 -0.64%
  1. Bharti Airtel share price
  2. 1,227.85 0.23%
  1. Power Grid Corporation Of India share price
  2. 258.95 -2.28%
  1. ITC share price
  2. 409.50 -1.89%
Business News/ Politics / Policy/  CBI’s first chargesheet in Saradha case doesn’t deal with larger conspiracy
BackBack

CBI’s first chargesheet in Saradha case doesn’t deal with larger conspiracy

The chargesheet names Sudipta Sen, two other executives only as accused along with four firms of group

A file photo of Saradha Group chairman Sudipta Sen, named as one of the accused.Premium
A file photo of Saradha Group chairman Sudipta Sen, named as one of the accused.

Kolkata: In its first chargesheet on the financial fraud committed by the now-defunct Saradha Group—one of eastern India’s biggest deposit-taking enterprises—the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) made no attempt to deal with the larger conspiracy, which the Supreme Court had ordered it to probe.

The agency has lately been investigating how political leaders and other influential people had helped the Saradha Group ply its trade and defraud over a million people of an estimated 2,000 crore.

While giving CBI the mandate to investigate the scam, the Supreme Court had said earlier this year that it wasn’t impressed with the probe conducted by the police in West Bengal, and specifically asked the federal agency to unearth where the money had gone and the key conspirators behind the scam.

“The larger conspiracy will be dealt with separately," said a CBI official, who did not want to be named. He declined to make any further comments.

The chargesheet filed with a metropolitan magistrate in Kolkata on Wednesday named only Sudipta Sen, Saradha Group’s chairman, and two other executives—Debjani Mukherjee and Kunal Ghosh—as accused along with four firms of the conglomerate. They have been booked for cheating, misappropriation of funds, criminal conspiracy and breach of trust.

Mukherjee was one of Sen’s confidantes—she had fled Kolkata along with him in April last year. Ghosh, a journalist-turned-politician who became a member of the Rajya Sabha on the Trinamool Congress’s nomination, was the chief executive officer of the Saradha Group’s media ventures. All three are currently in CBI’s custody.

CBI has interrogated and detained several other people, including a former police officer Rajat Majumdar for assisting the Saradha Group and guarding it against regulatory action, but they were not named in the chargesheet filed on Wednesday.

The agency said in a statement its investigation will continue and the role of other people will be examined.

This chargesheet appears to be aimed at only keeping the three key accused in custody while they are tried, said lawyers, who did not want to be identified.

Under Indian laws, no accused can be held in custody for more than 90 days without a chargesheet being filed. Unless this chargesheet was filed, the accused would have had a fighting chance of securing bail early next week. They have already been granted bail in some of the cases pending against them.

Alongside the CBI probe, the Enforcement Directorate (ED)— another federal agency which investigates foreign exchange violations—has been investigating the operations of the Saradha Group. It has attached the bank accounts of East Bengal and Mohun Bagan football clubs for receiving sponsorship from the Saradha Group.

While CBI focused on the involvement of influential people, ED trained its eyes on financial transactions of the group. It isn’t immediately clear how much money the two central agencies have been able to trace. There have been speculations about offshore cash stashes being found, but nothing concrete has so far emerged.

Meanwhile, the West Bengal government has announced that it will wind up the commission it had formed last year to investigate the operations of the Saradha Group and compensate depositors to the tune of 500 crore from the state exchequer. This commission, headed by a retired judge, has so far issued cheques for an aggregate sum of around 287 crore, of which around 100 crore remains unclaimed.

Unlock a world of Benefits! From insightful newsletters to real-time stock tracking, breaking news and a personalized newsfeed – it's all here, just a click away! Login Now!

Catch all the Politics News and Updates on Live Mint. Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates & Live Business News.
More Less
Published: 22 Oct 2014, 07:06 PM IST
Next Story footLogo
Recommended For You
Switch to the Mint app for fast and personalized news - Get App