Saradha scam: HC asks govt how it plans to disburse over Rs 138 crore among duped investors

The Calcutta High Court directed the West Bengal government on Friday to inform how it plans to disburse an unutilised amount of over Rs 138 crore out of Rs 500 crore earmarked for compensating investors duped in the Saradha chit fund scam.

A division bench, comprising justices Joymalya Bagchi and Suvra Ghosh, observed that it was a declared scheme for compensating the investors, for which the amount of Rs 500 crore was allotted by the state.

The bench directed the state to inform within four weeks, in the form of an affidavit, how it plans to disburse the remaining amount to the affected persons.

The court also asked the state government to place before it a report by the Justice (retd) Shyamal Sen Commission within four weeks.

The bench also directed the CBI, which is investigating the chit fund scams involving various companies including the Saradha Group, to file before it a progress report of the probe.

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Subir Dey, an investor in the Saradha Ponzi scheme, petitioned the high court claiming that all of the Rs 500 crore earmarked for compensating the affected persons have not been disbursed.

His lawyer Arindam Das said that as per a reply to an RTI application, the state government has said that Rs 138.95 crore of the Rs 500 crore was not disbursed.

The state government had brought the West Bengal Compensation Scheme for Affected Persons of Saradha Scam, 2013 for giving away Rs 500 crore to the affected persons and had set up the Justice (retd) Shyamal Sen Commission on April 24, 2013, for identifying the victims and disbursing the money to them.

The division bench said that it will hear the matter again after four weeks.

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