Kolkata: Police have
unearthed property worth Rs.750 crore so far by quizzing chit
fund-aided Saradha Group's arrested promoter Sudipa Sen and his
top aides, an official said Saturday. Six motorcycles with red
beacons and hooters allegedly used by company's officials to carry
cash was also seized.
The bikes were found in a garage of Saradha Group office, police
sources said.
Meanwhile, the Justice (retd) Shyamal Sen inquiry commission
constituted by the state government to probe the Saradha Group
scam and recommend ways of returning money to the depositors, was
being flooded with complaints.
An official said around 60,000 complaints have been received from
investors and agents, who have been pouring in not only from
across West Bengal, but from adjoining states as well. It will
receive complaints until June 29.
A commission official said it was taking complaints not only from
investors and agents of Saradha group, but also from other such
companies. "This is as per the terms of reference."
With Sen being grilled in police custody, the sleuths continued to
find more assets.
"We have so far unearthed assets valued at Rs.750 crores by
grilling Sen," said Deputy Commissioner of Police Arnab Ghosh of
Bidhannagar Commissionerate, which is probing what is being
regarded as the biggest financial scam to rock West Bengal.
During the day, police personnel from Joynagar in South 24
Parganas district interrogated Sen and his confidant Debjani
Mukherjee in connection with a cheating case filed against them by
some depositors.
A couple of days back the sleuths had summoned for questioning a
former official of the Reserve Bank of India who during his days
with the apex bank is said to have given some undue facilities to
Sen.
A police source said names of some officers of Securities and
Exchange Board of India, Income Tax department, banks, and other
central and state government agencies have cropped up following
Sen's interrogation. "Some of them have already been questioned.
We are tallying their replies with the information given by Sen."
Sleuths have also stumbled on 40 acres of land owned by Sen in
Shimla.
Sen, Mukherjeee and another senior official of the Group were
arrested April 23 from Sonmarg in Jammu and Kashmir, days after
the Group collapsed, unable to repay lakhs of depositors - most of
them poor people from villages and small towns - who had parked
their hard earned money with its companies, lured by promise of
huge returns.
Already, a number of and depositors of Saradha and similar chit
fund companies have committed suicide, while offices of a large
number of such dubious concerns operating in the state have been
attacked.
Even on Saturday, an office of a chit fund company was ransacked
by depositors at Pandabeshwar of Hooghly district for allegedly
cheating and siphoning of funds.
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