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.
There is no end to fraudulent investment schemes in India.
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 most wanted man of Bengal, Sudipta Sen, along with his close aide Debjani Mukherjee, their driver Rajeeb and another Saradha group official were apprehended from Kashmir's Sonemarg on Tuesday.
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.
The Saradha group's fortunes nose diving has not only put a scanner on other chitfund companies operating in the state, but has also reportedly put a question mark on TMC's rural vote.
The Supreme Court said no coercive steps, including Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar's arrest, will take place during the course of the investigation.
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.
Mamata Banerjee has announced a Rs 500 crore relief package to assuage those who lost their money to the Saradha chit fund. As West Bengal is dancing on the edge of bankruptcy, this money will be raised from taxes on tobacco. Having already seen their savings go up in smoke the people of West Bengal must now puff away whatever is left, says T V R Shenoy.
Football in West Bengal may not be the same again in the aftermath of the Saradha chit fund scam which has left thousands of investors in disarray and could mean a drying up of funds for clubs.
A banquet hosted by President Pranab Mukherjee for a visiting foreign dignitary on Friday night provided the platform for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his bitter political foe West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee to meet and exchange pleasantries.
A Kolkata sub-divisional magistrate's court on Thursday sent Ponzi king Sudipto Sen and two other accused to police custody for 14 days over their role in the Saradha chit fund scam. Media reports said the bail pleas of the three swindlers had been rejected and that they were charged for fraud and criminal breach of trust under Sections 406 and 420 of the Indian Penal Code.
Pulling no punches in her attack against the Bharatiya Janata Party for allegedly pursuing 'political vendetta' against the Trinamool Congress, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday charged that the Central Bureau of Investigation was being used as a 'political tool' by the National Democratic Alliance government and was functioning as 'a department of the Prime Minister's Office'.
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.
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."
The regulator is also exercising its new powers like collection of information from other regulators, government departments and even commercial enterprises such as telecom companies and banks.
Union Rural Development Secretary L C Goyal is tipped to take over the post
The apex court also said no coercive steps, including the arrest of the Kolkata Police chief, will take place during the course of investigation.
The chief minister skipped meals and remained awake the entire night on a makeshift dais along with some senior ministers and party members.
Ponzi or MLM schemes are fraudulent investment operations.
India Inc had few tough issues to deal with in 2014.
There should be "a CBI probe against CBI", the Supreme Court remarked on Monday as it blamed the agency for its constant refrain about severe manpower deficit, saying it had itself shown apathy towards filling up these vacancies leading to a shortfall of investigators.
The prime minister witnessed the protests when he travelled to the Raj Bhavan in Guwahati, where he will spend the night, from Lokopriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport.
Top Trinamool Congress leader Mukul Roy has been asked by Central Bureau of Investigation to appear before it in the Saradha chit fund scam probe, drawing angry reaction from the party which accused Bharatiya Janata Party of using the agency as a "political tool".
'People who have unaccounted money often park it in unregulated deposit schemes.' 'Curbing illegal deposit-raising activity will also carry forward the government's drive against black money.'
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday accused the Centre of pursuing vindictive politics and using central agencies like the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate to terrorise people in the non Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states.
Striking a rare show of bonhomie, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday shared the stage with veteran Communist Party of India-Marxist leader and former Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee
A bench headed by Justice T S Thakur said that the scams have inter-state ramification and directed the investigation be handed over to the central agency from the state authorities.
Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Bannerjee on Friday rubbished allegations of understanding between her and Bharatiya Janata Party, stating that she attended the IISCO programme along with Prime Minister Modi as it was related to the state's development.
Anil Kumar Sinha, a 1979-batch Indian Police Service officer, on Wednesday took over the reins of the Central Bureau of Investigation at a time when the agency is facing criticism from courts over its handling of probe in coal allocation and 2G scams.
There were conflicting reports about some CBI officers being arrested.
'Why didn't the CBI ask for the evidence earlier?' 'Why has it suddenly becoming imminent.'
'In the CBI's history, a situation like this has never ever occurred.'
Any erosion in the TMC, may benefit the BJP, reports Ishita Ayan Dutt.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said that Mamamta is busy fighting with the poll panel instead of taking on political parties.
The Trinamool Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday targetted each other in Parliament, leading to clashes and walkouts. The TMC displayed in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha the copies of some red diary, allegedly recovered from Sahara group chief Subrata Roy, and claimed that it contained the name of a BJP leader.
The Election Commission's decision is "unfortunate", highly arbitrary, motivated and "biased" and was taken at the behest of the Bharatiya Janata Party, she said in the letter.
She also hit out at the government for posting retired bureaucrats, who she alleged were its 'yes men', as head of institutions.
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