‘Who got money siphoned off by Saradha Group?’

Demanding a CBI inquiry into the Saradha group ponzi scam, the Congress Thursday said the people need to know who took away the money involved in the swindle.

"The only thing which bring out the truth is a CBI inquiry," state Congress Chief Pradip Bhattacharya.

"The people need answers as to who took the money siphoned off by Saradha group. TMC MP Kunal Ghosh has been arrested and there are a lot of questions, which the ruling Trinamool Congress has to answer," he said.

Arrested TMC MP Kunal Ghosh was involved in activities of the Saradha group other than those commensurate with his position as CEO of the group's media arm, the police had said.

Bhattacharya also lashed out at the Trinamool leadership for poaching on Congress leaders and MLAs.

"If they (TMC) think they can finish off the Congress by poaching Congress leaders and MLAs, then they are wrong. Those who have left Congress out of greed for power and money, were muck for the party. It is good that they have left the Congress," he said.

The state Congress leadership, which in the last few months have been battling defections of several of its leaders and MLAs to the Trinamool, Thursday organised a law violation programme to make its presence felt in the state.

KMC cancels trade licences of 47 Saradha companies

Kolkata: The trade licences of 47 companies formed by Saradha chit fund group were cancelled Thursday by Kolkata Municipal Corporation for illegal business transactions. Mayor of KMC Sovan Chatterjee said, "The trade licences of the companies run from a building on Diamond Harbour Road in Behala have been cancelled for their illegal business transactions." The chief of Saradha group Sudipta Sen has been arrested and he is currently in judicial custody. PTI

Courtesy:
Express News Service : Kolkata, Fri Nov 29 2013, 05:10 hrs
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/-who-got-money-siphoned-off-by-saradha-group--/1201047/

Sardha Chit Fund Scam: CBI willing to probe Saradha, Didi says no

Kolkata: While the CBI said that it is willing to take over the investigation into the multi-crore Saradha Group scam, the Mamata Banerjee government on Friday opposed, saying it was “premature” and called the plea in the Calcutta high court “politically motivated”.

“The police have acted promptly, commensurate with the urgency of the situation. There has been no laxity on the part of the state respondents in investigation. The main accused have been arrested. At this stage credibility of the investigation cannot be doubted,” said the state government’s affidavit submitted to the court.

“The state government has so far undertaken no covert or overt action to shield anybody,” it said, denying allegations by the petitioner that efforts are on to shield influential people allegedly involved in the matter. The court asked the government counsel to file a status report in the next hearing.

CBI counsel Himanshu Dutta told the court that the central agency is ready to take over probe if there is a judicial directive.

Sebi also filed an application before the division bench on Friday saying it had passed an order on April 23 to Saradha Realty to wind up all its operations, including those of its group companies, and refund the depositors’ money within three months. Saradha has been barred from mobilizing any fresh deposits or transacting in the securities and share markets.

Meanwhile as the probe progressed, Saradha CMD Sudipta Sen’s most trusted aide, Debjani Mukherjee, has helped police trace several immovable properties of the Group. On Friday, Bidhannagar City police said two more plots of land in Malda and Bankura — owned by either Saradha Group or Sen — have been identified. In the past couple of days, sleuths have seized a huge amount of documents from different Saradha offices.

However, police are yet to trace a huge amount of cash that Saradha had pooled in from depositors. On Friday, sleuths interrogated Sen and Debjani for more than three hours. With the help of corporate affairs experts and chartered accountants, police are now going through Saradha’s account details. But after initial probe, police have reasons to believe that Sen had either destroyed a large part of related documents or never maintained an account.
Courtesy:
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=TOINEW&BaseHref=TOIM/2013/05/04&PageLabel=13&EntityId=Ar01302&ViewMode=HTML