A special CBI court in Tripura sentenced three executives of a chit fund company to six years of rigorous imprisonment each for swindling Rs 5.5 crore from over 800 depositors.
The CBI has arrested five individuals, including a key figure, in connection with the LUCC chit fund scam in Uttarakhand, which involves over Rs 400 crore. The case concerns alleged irregularities by the Loni Urban Multi-State Credit and Thrift Co-operative Society (LUCC), accused of enticing investors into unregulated schemes.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested Sanjit Chakraborty, a proclaimed offender allegedly involved in two chit fund scam cases in Tripura involving over Rs 7.75 crore. Chakraborty was arrested in Kolkata after being absconding since 2013.
A mother and daughter were found dead in Bengaluru, India, in a suspected suicide pact driven by mounting debt. Two other family members survived with injuries.
'Around 15 crore poor people have lost their money.'
Ghanshyam Sahu, a resident of Uparwara of Durg, sold two acres of land to invest the proceeds in a chit fund company, only to realise he had been duped. Like hundreds others, Sahu had given up hope of getting the money back. So when he received Rs 9 lakh from the state government last month, he couldn't believe his luck. "I did not expect the money to be recovered," he candidly told Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel at an event in January.
30 per cent of all movies made in Tollywood are produced by chit fund companies.
The body count, mostly from suicides after the chit fund bubble burst, went up to 11 on Tuesday with the death of an agent and an alleged suicide by a chit fund firm director.
Chit funds can accept subscription from NRIs on non-repatriation basis
The total size of unregistered chit funds is almost Rs 30 lakh crore (Rs 30 trillion). Viswanath Prasad, a peon at a broking house in Kolkata, subscribed to a 'chit fund scheme' two months back.
Though a popular savings option in India's villages and towns, chit funds have resulted in scams too. Here's what you must know about chit funds before investing your money.
70 per cent of the total ad market in the state was driven by these companies.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who has sought to blame the Centre for the chit fund scam, has claimed that the central government reduced the rate of interest in small savings to drive depositors towards ponzi schemes.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a scathing attack on the TMC, accusing the party of looting West Bengal for 15 years, destroying the state's identity through corruption and infiltration, and turning Jadavpur University into a symbol of disorder.
RBI has allowed NRIs to invest in chit fund companies on a non-repatriation basis, subject to certain conditions
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.
Congress MP Adhir Choudhury has pegged the loss at Rs 17,000 crore.
The CBI action came a day after the agency filed its second charge sheet in the case alleging that former director general (state armed police) and Trinamool Vice President Rajat Majumdar and East Bengal Club official Debabrata Sarkar were beneficiaries of the money collected through chit fund scam.
While chits and the formal financial sector are not 'largely substitutable', users like the commitment to savings that these enforce and the flexibility in borrowing, reports N Sundaresha Subramanian from New Delhi.
The electorate did not vote for the BJP as much as they voted against the TMC. This is an important distinction that the new government will ignore at its own peril, points out Vice Admiral Biswajit Dasgupta (retd).
The popularity of the 'parallel banking service' continues to rise.
The bill will be discussed in the state Assembly on June 18.
The West Bengal government is committed towards compensating the losses suffered by chit fund investors in the wake of the Saradha Group's collapse, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Thursday.
According to the consumer affairs department, these chit funds are operating at a small level.
A SFIO probe into Saradha scam and 'chit fund' operations of 62 other entities has found serious financial mismanagement and siphoning off the funds by their promoters, who took advantage of regulatory gaps.
He also hit out at the Congress saying governments in the past 70 years kept quiet on blackmoney because they were worried about losing power.
The owner of a rural chit fund firm, active in two south Bengal districts, died on Thursday in Hooghly district taking the ponzi scheme fiasco deaths in the state to 14.
The BJP's landslide victory in West Bengal has not merely redrawn the electoral map but overturned the operating logic of politics in the state, breaching the TMC's entrenched fortress despite a decade-and-a-half of dominance, minority consolidation, and a sustained "outsider" narrative.
Senior TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee criticises Union Home Minister Amit Shah over infiltration, terror attacks, and unfulfilled job promises, questioning the BJP's governance record.
The probe agency is likely to take him to Bhubaneswar for further questioning.
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A bench of Chief Justice Altamas Kabir also issued notice to other state governments and the Centre on the petitioners' pleas for empowering Securities and Exchange Board of India to regulate chit fund schemes in the country.
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.
Supreme Court has issued notice over chit fund.
TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee accuses political rivals of being BJP agents and promises to restore voting rights to disenfranchised citizens in West Bengal. He also criticises the BJP's poll promises and highlights the TMC's Lakshmir Bhandar scheme.
Sudipto Sen, chairman of the Saradha chit fund company, which has allegedly defrauded thousands of depositors, was arrested along with two other company officials in Kashmir Valley
Centre must share blame for Ponzi schemes with West Bengal.
A special task force has been set up under to carry out all investigations into such companies.
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.
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