Comments
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday filed FIRs against two more West Bengal-based deposit-taking companies, MPS Greenery Developers Ltd and Akash Deep Projects Ltd.
These are the first non-Saradha companies against whom the agency has initiated proceedings.
According to a CBI spokesperson, cases have been registered against the managing directors and directors of these two companies.
“Charges include allegations of criminal breach of trust, cheating, criminal conspiracy and abatement. These are the first set of FIRs against companies other than the Saradha Group in West Bengal,” the spokesperson said.
The cases have been filed in pursuant to the Supreme Court asking the CBI to investigate the Saradha Scam in West Bengal and similar companies.
Akash Deep Projects, said to be headquartered in Baruipur south of Kolkata, is a relatively lesser known operator. Not much is known about its operations.
On the other hand Kolkata-headquartered MPS has been under the scanner of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for its money collection schemes, mostly plantation ones.
MPS along with Saradha, and some other companies have been in the forefront of collective investment schemes running in the Bengal.
MPS founder arrested
Pramatha Nath Manna, the founder and managing director of MPS Greenery, along with another director, PK Chanda, was arrested late on Friday night. They are accused of non-payment of dues. Cases were filed against them by some depositors from Bankura.
Manna was taken into custody after he attended the hearing of the Commission of Inquiry, headed by Justice Shyamal Sen, which has been set up by the state government to probe the Saradha scam and similar other scandals involving ponzi firms.
A district court on Saturday remanded both Manna and Chanda for three days in police custody.
Saradha Scam
The CBI incidentally, has been investigating the multi-crore Saradha Scam in West Bengal.
So far, it has made three arrests relating to the case that include a Debabrata Sarkar, a senior official of the East Bengal football club; Sandhir Agarwal, a city-based businessman; and, Rajat Majumdar, a former IPS officer. The fourth arrest has been that of Assamese singer Sadananda Gogoi.
It has also interrogated several Trinamool Congress MPs and leaders; apart from questioning CPI(M) leader Rabin Deb in connection with the scam.
The Saradha Group, involved in money collection and ponzi schemes across West Bengal, Bihar, Assam, Odisha and Tripura, went bust in April 2013. Its Chairman, Sudipta Sen, arrested later that month by the West Bengal police has since then been in jail.
The other high profile arrest so far in the Saradha Scam has been that of suspended Trinamool MP Kunal Ghosh. Ghosh headed the media ventures of the Saradha Group.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.