ED attaches properties worth Rs 3 Crore of TMC's Kunal Ghosh, Satabdi Roy in Saradha scam

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached properties of TMC leader Kunal Ghosh, who was the CEO of Saradha Media Group, which has been embroiled in the Saradha Chit Fund scam. Apart from Kunal Ghosh, who was also a former TMC Rajya Sabha MP, the Economic offences watchdog has attached properties of TMC Lok Sabha MP Satabdi Roy who had been the brand ambassador for Saradha and Debjani Mukherjee who has been the director in Saradha Group of companies. Their properties attached by the ED are to the tune of Rs 3 crore.

Till date, properties worth Rs 600 crore have been provisionally attached by the ED under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in connection with the multi-billion Saradha scam.

Kunal Ghosh had been suspended by the Mamata Banerjee-led party after he called her the 'biggest beneficiary' in the Saradha chit fund scam in 2019. He was reinstated into the TMC as a party spokesperson in August last year.  

The ED, which is probing the money laundering aspect of the Saradha scam had also summoned TMC MLA Samir Chakraborty and noted painter Suvaprasanna in connection with the case. Thousands of investors have been duped by the Saradha group by means of the fraudulent schemes floated by the firm. In late December last year, BJP National General Secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya had shared a few pages of a CBI report on the scam which had revealed that despite numerous complaints, no action was taken by the state of West Bengal against the Ponzi schemes because of 'political patronage' of TMC.

Also, before the case was transferred to CBI, the SIT formed by the state "returned crucial evidence such as laptops, mobile phones, etc", as per the CBI report. Another excerpt of the report stated that the SIT and the police concealed various evidence and facts which financially linked the leaders of the TMC to the chit fund scam.

What is Saradha Financial Scam?

The Saradha Chit Fund scam was a Ponzi scheme, which is referred to as 'Chit fund in Eastern India'. The scandal had rocked the state in 2013 with Saradha Group collecting thousands of crores of rupees from over 17 lakh depositors before it collapsed in April of that year.

The Centre had launched a multi-agency probe involving the Income Tax department, the ED. Thereafter the Supreme Court in 2014 handed over the investigation to CBI to probe the possible international money laundering, serious regulatory failures and alleged political nexus concerning the scam. TMC MPs Kunal Ghosh and Srinjoy Bose, former West Bengal Director General of Police Rajat Majumdar, Sports and Transport minister in the TMC government Madan Mitra were among the few arrested in the scam, while Mamata Banerjee claimed political vendetta by the BJP over the arrests. Srinjoy Bose quit from the party, a day after given bail. He resigned from the Rajya Sabha seat and also quit politics thereafter.