Darjeeling court sent Sudipta Sen to 14 days judicial custody

The Chief Judicial Magistrate court of Darjeeling on Monday sent Sudipta Sen, the prime accused in the multi-crore Saradha scam, to 14 days judicial custody in relation to a case pending against him filed by a retired soldier. According to Assistant Public Prosecutor Pankaj Prasad, a complaint was lodged against the Saradha Group of Companies in July 2013 by Kubir Rai, a resident of CR Das Road in Darjeeling. “The complaint by the retired army man states he had invested Rs1 lakh in fixed deposits in the company on the assurance of getting Rs1.22 lakh on maturity after 15 months. Rai invested another Rs12,000 (in monthly instalments of Rs3,000 for four months) for which he was to receive Rs52,500 on maturity. However, the Saradha Group winded up in April 2013 and Rai incurred a huge loss,” said Prasad.
The APP said several other investors who were duped had also lodged complaints but the police based their case against Sen on a single complaint and started investigating. “The CID had filed a prayer for arresting Sen nad the court allowed this in February 2014. It’s been more than a year since we have been trying to produce Sen before the Darjeeling CJM, but could not as he has cases in several courts across the state,” said Prasad.
The CJM court has directed the police to produce Sen on April 2 for the next hearing. “A designated court has been set up in Kolkata to oversee the Saradha trials. The CBI is handling the case. In fact, it has submitted a prayer seeking transfer of this case to Kolkata,” the APP said. As of now, there are 55 cases pending against Sen and his group of companies in courts across West Bengal. (EOIC)