Rose Valley Scam: ED raids five locations in Kolkata

The ED (Enforcement Directorate) conducted raids at five locations in Kolkata regarding the Rose Valley chit fund scam on Thursday. As per sources, two of these are in New Town on the eastern fringes of the city of Kolkata, one is near Dunlop and the other near the Southern fringes in Kolkata. A similar raid was carried out by the CBI back in October. The CBI officers had visited the West Bengal Secretariat as part of its ongoing probe into the multi-crore Rose Valley chit fund scam. This was the first time that the investigating agency personnel had visited the state secretariat in connection with the Rose Valley scam. 

Read: Rose Valley scam: CBI officials visit state secretariat

Mamata Banerjee's close aide Shrikant Mohta had been detained by the CBI in relation to the Rose Valley scam. Then, later on, ED also interrogated senior Trinamool Congress leader Madan Mitra in connection with the scam. The probe agency had asked the state government to submit all files related to the Rose Valley scam and summoned the OSD of the land department to appear before it by October 18. Now on Thursday the ED is out conducting raids in namely five locations across Kolkata. 

Read: Rose Valley scam: Mamata Banerjee aide Shrikant Mohta detained by CBI

Read: Rose Valley scam: Top Bengal actor Rituparna Sengupta summoned by Enforcement Directorate

What is the Rose Valley Chit Fund scam? 

The Rose Valley financial scandal is a major financial scam caused by the collapse of a Ponzi scheme run by Rose Valley Group. It is in the limelight because of political connections found in the scam. It hit the states of West Bengal, Assam, and Bihar in 2013. The scam is calculated to be even bigger than the Saradha Chit Fund scam and as per ED. Around Rs.17,520 crore was reportedly raised from around1 lakh investors in the name of the "Holiday Membership Scheme." The Rose Valley group had allegedly floated a total of 27 companies for running the chit fund operations of which only 12 were active. Gautam Kundu, the Chairman and Managing Director of the company, has had properties worth Rs 293 crores attached by the ED in connection with the scam. It is alleged that the company had made "cross investments" in various other floating companies to reduce its liabilities towards investors.

Read: RBI files a detailed affidavit on the PMC Bank scam in the Bombay High Court

Read: CBI arrests former OCA secretary in connection with a chit fund scam

(With inputs from PTI)