The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached assets worth ₹5 crore of West Bengal-based journalist Suman Chattopadhyay and his family members in connection with the money laundering probe against the I-Core Group.
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In December 2018, the CBI arrested Mr. Chattopadhyay, who was the editor of Bengali daily Ei Somoy.
Based on CBI case
The attached movable and immovable properties include bank balances and duplex flats located in and around Kolkata. The ED probe is based on the CBI case, alleging that the I-Core Group ran a chit fund scam and that its companies collected funds from a large number of small-time investors on the promise of phenomenal returns.
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According to the ED, Mr. Chattopadhyay — personally and through his company, Disha Productions & Media Private Limited (DPMPL) — received proceeds of crime to the tune of ₹9.83 crore from the I-Core Group under the guise of business investment. He also received funds from other chit fund companies such as the Saradha Group through the same modus operandi. He had come under the ED scanner in the Saradha Group case.
In September last, the ED attached assets worth more than ₹300 crore of the I-Core group companies, its directors and their family members. Based on the investigation so far, the agency has calculated the proceeds of alleged crime in the case to be about ₹2,400 crore.
I-Core group owner Anukul Maity was arrested by the CBI in 2015. In November 2020, he died in a Bhubaneswar jail.