The Managing Director of the Sumangal Group, Subrata Adhikari, is said to have been arrested from Mumbai on charges of money laundering.
The Sumangal Group had been involved in various deposit-taking and ponzi schemes in West Bengal and the neighbouring states. Money collection was made through the ‘Flexi Potato Purchase Scheme’.
The Potato Flexi Bonds promised sky-high returns based mainly on purchase and sale of potatoes.
“A team of Kolkata police officers from the Detective Department arrested Adhikhari from a guest-house yesterday night,” Pallab Kanti Ghosh, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime), told
The charges levelled against him include money laundering and raising money through ponzi schemes.
The group is allegedly said to have amassed deposits upwards of Rs 100 crore.
In December 2013, some 5,000-odd depositors had staged an agitation and lodged a complaint at the Shakespeare Sarani police station against the group for non-payment following the maturity of these Potato Flexi Bonds.
Complaints were lodged after the investors found the Sumangal Group closed its offices and the directors, including Adhikari, went absconding.