Saradha’s Darjeeling-based office has ‘master plan’ to clear money

DARJEELING, 21 APRIL: At a time when several branch offices of Saradha Group in the state have fallen prey to the scam with its CMD Sudipto Sen absconding, its management based in Darjeeling today said it has a ‘master plan’ to clear up the maturity of more than 1.5 lakh depositors at the Saradha Group all over the Hills.
“The master plan is to form a new core committee comprising of Hills-based agents. This committee will collect ransom from our company’s agents based in the Hills and will continue the renewal of the depositors.
With the fund collected, we will pay the maturity of our depositors,” said Mr Pravin Zimba, development supervisor at the Darjeeling branch office of Saradha Group adding that the new working committee will not accept new entries.
The maturity generally refers to a set time period at the end of which the financial instrument will cease to exist and the principal is repaid with interest. “We are hearing that several branch offices of the company all over the country are shutting down. But we have come forward to clear out the hard-earned money of our depositors. I started to work for this company when I saw that it has all the legal certificates required. Now if anyone tries to stop us be it political or any, they will be held responsible,” said Mr Zimba
The branch office of Sarada in Darjeeling is located at SM Das road and started to operate since March 2010 and has the strength of about 5,000 agents all over the Hills, said Mr Zimba adding that it has more that 1.5 lakh depositors within the Darjeeling sub-division investing at Saradha Group.
It has also been learnt from Mr Zimba that, “Within the span of 6 months the company bought a land measuring more than 1 acre at Ghoom worth about 1 crore 8 lakhs.”
“This office in Darjeeling presently used to collect 15 crore per month,” added one of the members of the management.
Further, according to the announcement made today by Mr Zimba, it has been learnt that this master plan more or less referred to the same and earlier ‘chit fund’. The only difference is that it will not accept any new entries rather will collect the sum from its agents. However, the renewal of the depositors is important. How much they will collect has not been revealed, with the management maintaining to have further meetings with prior consult with the legal advisors before operating.
It can be added that a series of meetings were held with its management, the depositors and the agents today at its office in Darjeeling amid tight security. No information of vandalism has been reported. On the other hand, many depositors standing in a queue were seen panicking while agents tried to console them. At the end, everybody left the premises after hearing the announcement.
People who stood hours at the office left perplexed. “Before I made the investment, the management of the company showed us the land they had bought as their financial strength. They even said that the operation will help in reducing unemployment in the Hills. They showed us two ambulances that operates free of cost within Darjeeling. By looking at all the factors, they made us believe that our investment is safe. In return, I am loosing five lakhs,” said an investor. On the condition of anonymity, another local lady was seen questioning the legality of the working committee. “We have been hearing that the company is at bankruptcy and moreover the state is shutting down the Company. Upon what legal grounds the committee will function?” she said. One of the management said: “We have decided to form a committee. Further we will hold a chain of meetings with the management and will also consult the legal advisors about the legality to function.” 

Saradha’s money used to fund 2011 Assembly polls 

KOLKATA, 21 APRIL: Funds collected from the public by the Saradha Group were used in the 2011 Assembly election to garner political support to run its chit fund business in the state, preliminary investigation suggests.
Saradha Group started its real estate business in 2006 and got its licence in 2008 during the Left Front regime. However, it gained huge patronage and support from the Trinamul Congress to survive after the 2011 Assembly election. Investigating into the matter police found that a huge amount of money collected through agents were being used all over the state for Trinamul Congress candidates before and during Assembly election. Saradha Group CMD Sudipto Sen even opened media houses to support the Trinamul Congress during and after Assembly election.
A senior officer said so far they have managed to gather information only on bank accounts that are directly handled by Mr Sen. "The number of bank transactions and the volume of money transferred before and during Assembly election could give a hint on the flow of funds of the chit fund during election. We are trying to obtain the details of all bank transactions, which can give a vital clue the way funds were being used in the election," the officer said.
However, since a huge fund was used in election campaigning directly from the money collected through agents, it will be hard to ascertain the flow of money, the officer said.
Some police officers, however, believe the matter would never be considered as this may reveal names of politicians who were involved in using money from the chit fund during Assembly election and took several advantages from the group.
"Most of the chit funds flourish in the state with political support. During investigation we found how Mr Sen utilised his media organisations and supported the Trinamul Congress to continue his chit fund business. Even Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee inaugurated one of the group's newspapers," the officer said.
Involvement of politicians and use of funds during election are gaining momentum after it was came to light that Mr Sen had sent a letter to the CBI naming politicians who allegedly took money from him.
"Now the Trinamul Congress leadership is washing its hands off from the entire episode, but the chief minister had inaugurated one of the group's newspapers few months ago," said the officer.
Another officer of the city police who was previously involved in investigating cases related to chit funds said involvement of politicians in such groups are nothing new.  "Recently we see how goons like Sambhunath Kao and Muhammad Iqbal are politically shielded and maintained contacts with some state ministers. However, political pressure would not allow investigators to get into the truth behind such crimes," the officer said