A school in Siliguri in north Bengal is giving sleepless nights to the team investigating the Saradha scam.
The outgoing batch of Lincoln High School did their institution proud with a 97 per cent pass at the Indian School Certificate examinations. But the remaining 700 students and Enforcement Directorate officials are clueless about the fate of this institution run by the erstwhile Saradha Group.
The school, among the properties attached by the ED as part of the investigation, is now being run by an administrator, but its fate is becoming uncertain as the investigation enters its penultimate phase.
Navigating through a web of monetary transactions and deals, the two-year investigation has led investigators to hundreds of properties such as resorts, farmlands, orchards, apartments and the school.
Other than the immovable properties, the agency has to deal with 210 cars, ambulances and SUVs, now impounded. But managing these properties and securing them are posing a challenge to the officers to whom such matters are not germane. Recently, thefts were reported at some of these properties.
An estimated 100 such properties and 1,000 acres of land have been attached now. Assessment of their market value varies, but is pegged somewhere between Rs. 900 crore and Rs. 1,400 crore.
Human rights problem
The ED can provisionally attach these properties, but once it gets control and possession and tries to sell it, a human rights problem will arise.
Property attachment has raised hopes of duped investors that their money will be refunded. The fraud is gauged at Rs. 2,500 crore, though the final numbers may be higher, investigators feel.
Property management, along with collating information and giving it a final shape, is giving a tough time to the ED officers.
The case is being investigated under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, which seeks to combat money laundering, besides seizing property obtained from this money.
The final charge sheet is expected by the year-end.
