In Assam, police file 8 cases against Saradha Group

Smudra Gupta Kashyap

Posted: May 01, 2013 at 0447 hrs IST

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Guwahati Even as a team of CBI arrived here on Tuesday and made a preliminary assessment of over 220 cases registered against various chit fund and other non-banking financial companies (NBFC), the Assam Police have already registered as many as eight cases against Saradha Group that has been at the centre of a massive swindle.

While seven cases have been registered in the last two weeks or so, one case was registered in Jorhat in 2012 itself. Of the seven recent cases, four are in different police stations in Guwahati, two in Dhubri (where the group had set up a biscuit factory in 2011 that was inaugurated by an Assam minister), and one in Bongaigaon. All cases relate to alleged fraud, forgery, cheating and illegal collection of money.

Prominent companies against which cases have been registered across Assam in the past two years include Rose Valley Group, Goldmine Agro Ltd, Idol India Infrastructures Ltd, Jeevan Suraksha Trading & Financials Ltd, Ramel Industries, Silicon Project India Ltd, Uro Agro India Ltd, Uro Infra Reality India Ltd, Ellora International Ltd, Rahul Hi Rise Ltd, Nile Projects Ltd and Greater Kolkata Infrastructure Ltd. Of these, Jeevan Suraksha has already closed down.

Meanwhile, the CBI team headed by R P Agarwal, a joint director, which arrived in Guwahati on Tuesday, held a discussion with officials of the CID and Bureau of Investigations (Economic Offences) of the Assam Police, with officials describing it as preliminary in nature.

"The CBI will examine all the cases and then decide on how many cases it would like to take up. This will take at least a week," an Assam Police official said.

An Assam Police team which has already interrogated Saradha Group CMD Sudipta Sen twice in Kolkata in the past three days has sought his custody for bringing him to Guwahati for further interrogation.

The Assam Police have not only arrested over 300 people in connection with the 220-odd cases, but have also frozen 106 bank accounts involving more than Rs 25 crore. This is in addition to Rs 95 lakh seized in cash apart from holding other items as several offices of numerous such companies have been sealed, an official said. The Assam Police SIT has so far filed chargesheets against 42 persons and 15 companies in connection with 17 cases.