Saradha Chit Fund case: ED attaches assets worth Rs.6 cr of Chidambaram’s wife Nalini, ex-CPM MLA, others
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday attached assets worth more than Rs.6 crore of such as Nalini Chidambaram, wife of former Finance and Home Minister P Chidambaram, former CPM MLA Debendranath Biswas and a company owned by former Assam Minister, the late Anjan Dutta, in the Saradha money laundering case. The collapsed Saradha Chit Fund owner Sudipto Sen in his confession letter of early 2013, named Nalini Chidambaram and said that she took Rs.1.26 crore from him in a deal related to buying an Assam-based TV channel.
Nalini’s role
Nalini Chidambaram’s role in the case was linked to the payment of a legal fee of Rs.1.26 crore by the Saradha Group for her appearances in court and the Company Law Board over a television channel purchase deal, the ED had said earlier. Interestingly Nalini was the lawyer of Manoranjan Gupta who owned a TV channel and the buyer of the TV was Sudipto Sen. Though Nalini claimed this Rs.1.26 crore was the legal fee to her and she could not justify why Sudipto Sen paid money to seller Manoranjana Gupta’s advocate Nalini.
Bribe to get clearance
Many people say those days P Chidambaram was the home minister and this payment was bribe money to get Home Ministry’s clearance in the TV channel buyout and his other business in the North Eastern area. Nalini and Manoranjana Gupta are charge-sheeted by CBI also. Manoranjana was in prison for so many months.
A provisional order for attaching movable properties worth Rs.3.3 crore and immovable assets worth Rs.3 crore has been issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), ED said in a statement. These properties were owned by the Saradha Group and other people, who were beneficiaries of “proceeds of crime” generated by the group, it said.
Key players of the biggest Ponzi scheme
The ED said the “beneficiaries” include Nalini Chidambaram, Debabrata Sarkar (an official of the East Bengal Club), Debendranath Biswas (a former IPS officer and ex-CPM MLA), and Anubhuti Printers and Publications “owned” by Dutta, who was a president of the Congress’ Assam unit. Dutta was considered a close confidante of late Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi and he was a minister in his cabinet, handling several departments, including transport. He was appointed APCC (Assam Pradesh Congress Committee) president in December 2014 and he held the post till his death in 2016.
A big chit-fund game
The money laundering case pertains to a big chit fund scam perpetrated by the Saradha Group in West Bengal, Assam, and Odisha till 2013. The group is alleged to have cheated thousands of depositors, promising abnormally high returns on investments in its illegal schemes. The anti-money laundering agency filed a criminal case in 2013 after studying Kolkata Police FIRs against the group and its promoters.
“The quantum of total money mobilized by this group company is about Rs.2,459 crore out of which nearly Rs.1,983 crore remains unpaid to the depositors to date, excluding the interest amount,” the ED said. Assets worth about Rs.600 crore have been attached by the ED in this case till now.
PGurus is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel and stay updated with all the latest news and views
For all the latest updates, download PGurus App.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi: A Gujju businessman who does not invest his precious time for a losing battle - April 13, 2024
- NIA arrests two accused Shazib and Taahaa in Bengaluru’s Rameshwaram Cafe blast case from Kolkata - April 12, 2024
- National Herald scam: Adjudicating Authority upholds Rs.752 crore assets attached by ED - April 11, 2024
These kind of news keep coming as election cycle approaches. Once election is done, things go calm. Let us not get fooled.
Indians have been waiting for too long to hear this news & wait for final justice