The Calcutta High Court on Thursday indirectly criticised the West Bengal government's decision yesterday to levy a 10 per cent tax on tobacco products to assuage the growing anger of agents and depositors of the Saradha group.
A special task force has been set up under to carry out all investigations into such companies.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist on Thursday demanded a CBI probe into the multi-crore chit fund scam in West Bengal and asked the state government to confiscate all properties of Saradha Group to pay off thousands of small investors left in the lurch.
With her simple cotton saree and hawai chappal, Mamata was always identified with the poorest of the poor Bengali. But this sudden burst of chit fund network of seemingly cheat companies has dragged her into the cesspool. Sheela Bhatt analyses.
The chief minister on Monday announced a double-pronged probe by a special investigation team under the Director General of Police and an inquiry commission under Justice (retd) Shyamal Sen.
With the Trinamool Congress government stepping into the third year of its rule, it is facing its biggest challenge in the multi-crore chit fund scam which has hit lakhs of people across the state.
Former Assam Director General of Police Shankar Barua, quizzed recently by the Central Bureau of Investigation in connection with Saradha scam, allegedly shot himself dead at his residence on Tuesday.
The two giants of Indian football, Mohun Bagan and East Bengal, are facing turbulent times. On the pitch, East Bengal finished a respectable third in the 2012-13 I-League season, while Mohun Bagan finished a disappointing tenth.
The agency said the recall of the order granting Kumar an interim protection from the arrest was necessary.
Apart from them, Chidambaram's wife -- Nalini -- has been chargesheeted by the CBI in the Saradha chit-fund scam for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 1.4 crore.
About 85% of complaints received were related to investments of less than Rs 10,000 each.
The ED had sent summons to the painter, considered close to ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal, for the second time to seek clarification on the business deal he had entered into with Sudipto Sen, chief of Saradha group.
Kumar, who is currently the West Bengal CID additional director general, was part of a special investigation team set up by the West Bengal government to investigate the scam before the Supreme Court handed over the case to the CBI in 2014, along with other chit fund cases.
The Supreme Court collegium has for the second time reiterated the names of two advocates -- Amitesh Banerjee and Sakya Sen -- for appointment as judges of the Calcutta high court "expeditiously", saying it was not open for the government to repeatedly send back the same proposal.
Since the Saradha group of companies went bust with its owner Sudipta Sen in police custody from 2013, its agents have been left penniless, homeless and have lost all hope of living a peaceful life. They are out on the streets, crying themselves hoarse for compensation. One of them writes an open letter to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for help.
Ponzi or MLM schemes are fraudulent investment operations.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Saturday conducted searches at 56 places, including the premises of Biju Janata Dal MLA Pravata Tripathy and owner of a local newspaper in Odisha, in connection with the multi-crore Saradha chit fund scam.
The bench said this is not an appropriate case for custodial interrogation of the petitioner.
Taking potshots at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over the Saradha chit-fund scam and the Burdwan blast, Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah on Sunday appealed to the people here to vote for change and development in the state.
Dissident Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Kunal Ghosh, whose name has cropped up in the Saradha chit fund scam and who was served a show-cause notice for speaking against party chief Mamata Banerjee, was suspended from the party on Saturday, while two other MPs who had also hit out at the leadeship were spared.
A team of CBI officers reached his residence in south Kolkata's Chetla area along with a large contingent of central forces in the morning, officials said.
All airports and immigration authorities have been alerted by the CBI this week to prevent him from leaving the country and intimate the agency on any possible move, they said.
The cop, who is alleged to have suppressed crucial evidences required for preparing the final CBI chargesheet in the scam, has been evading the probe agency's summons to appear before it and his whereabouts are not known.
Meanwhile, RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan said at the meeting that the central bank brass discussed strengthening the state- level coordination committees so that unauthorised deposit taking can be dealt with in a better way.
Somen Mitra, the one time pillar of the Trinamool Congress and now Congress candidate from Kolkata North constituency, can't help smiling. The SC's order directing the CBI to probe the Saradha scam is the fruit of his hard and lonely battle. On the day when 17 constituencies in the state go to polls, Mitra speaks to Rediff.com's Indrani Roy about the impact of the Saradha scam on the elections and his relationship with his former party chief.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday attacked Trinamool Congress' arrested Member of Parliament Kunal Ghosh for criticizing her over Saradha chit fund scam, saying his remarks were aimed at "saving" himself.
The Rajya Sabha MP, who is also a spokesperson of West Bengal's ruling party, was asked to appear before a CBI team in the first week of August, officials said on Friday.
Revamped at a cost of Rs 10 crore, Ouni village in Uttarakhand is being touted as a 'modern village' now. Nearly 40 solar street lights, two new transformers, and as many washrooms have been set up in the village, which didn't have street lights till a few months ago, reports Sarthak Choudhury.
'I have tutored my family and myself to fight hunger,' the former agent for the disgraced Saradha chit fund says, his eyes welling up. 96 of the 107 cases referred to the Serious Fraud Investigation Office are based in Bengal!
The two central premier investigative agencies - Central Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement Directorate - have asked their officials to focus more on digital evidence, e-forums and social media to crack down on offenders. These are a crucial part of prosecution amid the second wave of the pandemic. The Income Tax Department is going full throttle on data analytics to issue notices in time-bound cases. Further, sleuths have been given electronic devices including laptops with secure connections, which keep data encrypted and inaccessible.
With the Supreme Court ordering Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar to appear before the Central Bureau of Investigation, the agency will finally be able to question the top cop in cases arising out of the Saradha chit fund scam probe.
India Inc had few tough issues to deal with in 2014.
Rejecting the demand for sacking Transport Minister Madan Mitra arrested in Saradha scam case, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday stepped up her attack on Narendra Modi saying "if image is a proof of criminal conspiracy, then the Prime Minister should be arrested for Sahara scam."
Speculation is rife that beleaguered Mukul Roy, a close aide of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and under the CBI scanner in the Saradha chit fund scam, may switch over to the BJP. Neither Roy or the BJP have commented on the rumours. But Roy's recent remarks seems to expose him. Sheela Bhatt and Indrani Roy report.
In a fresh ponzi clampdown, Sebi on Wednesday barred Kolkata-based Rose Valley group from raising public money in the name of 'holiday membership' scheme, through which it is estimated to have garnered over Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion) without necessary regulatory approvals.
Gowda has also failed to offer clarity on reforming the Railway Board.
The Saradha Group had been raising deposits from the public with a promise to double the money invested within a short period.
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The Union Cabinet on Wednesday had approved the proposal to amend the Sebi Act and other relevant regulations that would give greater powers to the regulator in its efforts to tackle all kinds of money-collection schemes, as also to effectively crackdown on defaulters in the stock markets.
The bids have been invited by Sebi till October 27, while auction for the sale would take place on October 30
Former Trinamool Congress MP Kunal Ghosh also appeared before the probe agency in Meghalaya.
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