In a major step forward in the Saradha chit fund scam, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday attached the properties of Saradha Group of companies in West Bengal and Odisha. These properties would be auctioned to return money to lakhs of small investors who put money in the company.
Valued at over Rs 35 crore, the money would introduce a fresh lease of life to repayment of money to small investors across the two states, which the company collected from unsuspecting people from across West Bengal, Odisha, Assam and Tripura among a number of states.
Unofficial estimates place the total amount of the scam, which came to surface in April 2013, at around Rs 22,000 crore.
Talking about what is considered one of the biggest financial crimes in India an official communiqué from the ED on Wednesday stated that the directorate’s regional unit has registered cases against Saradha Group in Kolkata, Bhubaneshwar and Guwahati under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
Based on details collected from across the region after talking to investors and Saradha group officials and employees, the ED attached properties worth slightly over Rs 34 crore in West Bengal and around Rs 1.5 crore in Odisha.
The attached assets included buildings, bank accounts and land, held in the name of Saradha Group and its directors.
The ED also attached the equity shares of Broadcast Worldwide Limited, which runs a number of news and entertainment channels under the brand name of Tara TV.
The agency is also in the process of identifying other channels and terminals where laundered money was parked and would continue to run investigations across the country.