The Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) on Monday filed a second chargesheet in the Saradha money collection scam case.
The national agency accused Saradha group Chairman Sudipta Sen, his close aide Debjani Mukherjee, businessmen father and son Sajjan and Sandhir Agarwal, East Bengal club official Debabrata Sarkar, former deputy inspector-general (DIG) of police and senior Trinamool Congress official Rajat Kumar Majumder, and Asamese singer-filmmaker Sadananda Gogoi in connection with their involvement with four Saradha companies.
The companies are Saradha Realty India, Saradha Tours & Travels, Saradha Garden Resort & Hotel and Saradha Housing.
The chargesheet was filed in the court of the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Alipore and the accused were booked for fraud and criminal conspiracy under different sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act 1978.
In its first chargesheet filed on October 22, the CBI accused suspended Trinamool Congress MP Kunal Ghosh along with Sudipta Sen and Debjani Mukherjee. Journalist turned politician, Ghosh, was the CEO of Saradha’s media empire.
Widening netThe central agency has already booked a number of police officers, socialites and a sitting MLA in Odisha for alleged involvement in a similar money collection scam concerning Artha Tatwa Group. In Bengal, the agency last week widened the scope of the probe to five other money collection companies. FIRs are filed against Kolkata-based Angel Group of Companies, PAFL Industries Ltd, Royal International Trading, Win Realcon Ltd and ASSDA Agro Projects.
This apart, the Enforcement Directorate launched a probe against the city-based Rose Valley group that was also involved in fund mobilisation.