TMC ex-MP named in Saradha case

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday submitted its first chargesheet in the multi-crore Saradha chit fund scam case at the city sessions court, naming former Trinamul Congress MP Srinjoy Bose and chairman of the Saradha group Sudipta Sen, among others.

Apart from Mr Bose and Mr Sen, the ED had named Debjani Mukherjee, Mr Sen’s wife Piyali Sen, his son Shubhojit, businessmen Shantanu Ghosh and Ramesh Gandhi, Saradha agent Prashant Naskar, former Union minister Matang Sinh and his estranged wife Manoranja Singh in the chargesheet.

The agency has named 21 accused in the chargesheet which includes 10 individuals and 11 companies which it had investigated for over three years under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The Enforcement Directorate had claimed to have attached properties worth more than '500 crore market value from the properties of the Sarada group in the states of Bengal, Assam, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra in the chargesheet.

The attached assets include flats, bungalows, bank deposits, lands, resorts, schools, dairy farm, vehicles, etc.

The agency had registered a case under PMLA in 2013 taking cognisance of the police FIRs of West Bengal, Assam and Orissa.

According to sources, the chargesheet has also put on record the transactions made through 91 bank accounts, out of the total 338 that were used to indulge in the alleged chit fund scam on numerous gullible depositors in the three states.