The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was granted seven days’ custody of the six main accused in the multi-crore Saradha chit fund Ponzi scheme here on Monday.
A local court granted custody of chairman and managing director of the Saradha Group Sudipta Sen, director Debjani Mukherjee, Kunal Ghosh MP, Mr. Sen’s associates and senior officials with the Group Manoj Nagel, Somnath Dutta and Arvind Chauhan to the CBI. The Central agency had sought 10 days’ custody of the six.
The Supreme Court had asked for a CBI probe into the matter, something which the Trinamool Congress-led State government had strongly opposed. All six are currently in the police custody.
The Supreme Court had directed the CBI to take up the case in May this year and had directed the agency to probe the scam in West Bengal, Odisha and Assam. The Central probe agency has filed 46 cases in the chit fund scam under various sections of the Indian Penal Code. The CBI is investigating two letters allegedly written by Mr. Sen (in April 2013 to the CBI) and Mr. Ghosh (in 2014 to the Enforcement Directorate).
The scam came to light in April 2013. Mr. Sen and Ms. Mukherjee were arrested from Sonmarg in Jammu and Kashmir in the same month. Mr. Ghosh, a Trinamool Congress MP, who headed the media wing of the Group, was arrested in November 2013.
