Saradha scam: ED attaches assets worth Rs 6.3 crore of Nalini Chidambaram, others

The Enforcement Directorate on Friday said it has attached assets worth Rs 6.3 crore of Nalini Chidambaram, wife of former finance minister P Chidambaram, and others in the Saradha chit fund scam.

The agency said that assets were owned by the Saradha Group and alleged beneficiaries of proceeds of crime generated by the firm.

Besides Nalini Chidambaram, the agency has named former Communist Party of India (Marxist) MLA Debendranath Biswas, Debabrata Sarkar and Anubhuti Printers and Publications owned by late former Assam minister Anjan Dutta, the agency said.

The Saradha company allegedly ran several ponzi schemes in West Bengal, defrauding lakhs of people. Thousands of crores of rupees were reportedly lost after the scheme collapsed in 2013. Its promoter Sudipta Sen was arrested the same year.

The Enforcement Directorate had registered a case against Saradha Group of Companies on the basis of first information reports filed by the Kolkata Police and the Central Bureau of Investigation.

The CBI has accused Nalini Chidambaram of entering into a criminal conspiracy with Sen and other accused persons with the intention to cheat and misappropriate funds from the company.

The agency claimed she received Rs 1.4 crore from the Saradha group of companies between 2010 and 2012 through Sen’s companies for managing inquiries by agencies like the Securities and Exchange Board of India and the Registrar of Companies.

On Friday, the Enforcement Directorate said that money mobilised by the group amounts to Rs. 2,459 crore, out of which Rs 1,983 crore remains unpaid to the depositors to date.

“In the past, prior to the issue of this attachment order, ED Kolkata had issued eight Provisional Attachment Orders attaching assets/properties [value of more than Rs. 600 crores],” the agency said. “Further investigation is in progress.”