Saradha case: CBI files first chargesheet
Kolkata: CBI on Wednesday filed its first chargesheet in the multi-crore Saradha scam naming the company chief Sudipta Sen, close aide Debjani Mukherjee and suspended Trinamool MP Kunal Ghosh, five months after it was ordered by the Supreme Court to probe the case.
CBI sources said the 25-page charge sheet coupled with annexures contained names of three accused persons–Sudipata Sen, Debjani Mukherjee and Kunal Ghosh, a suspended TMC Rajya Sabha MP who had worked with Sen.
Five companies–Saradha Tours & Travels, Saradha Gardens, Saradha Realty, Saradha Constructions and Strategic Media, a company owned by Kunal Ghosh, were also named in the charge sheet, the sources said.
The chargesheet was filed by the investigation officer of the Special Crime Branch of CBI accompanied by its counsel with the Metropolitan Magistrate of the City Sessions Court.
It was filed under Sections 120B, 409 and 420 of the Indian Penal Code(IPC) and also under Sections four and six of Prize, Chit and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act 1978. The agency would also continue its investigation under Section 173(8) of CrPC for ascertaining the role of other accused persons and financial transactions, the sources said.
The chargesheet was filed on a day when the Calcutta High Court rejected a petition seeking extension of the term of Shyamal Sen Commission formed to probe the ponzi scheme scam in which thousands of small investors were allegedly duped.
A bench of justices Dipankar Dutta and Asish Chakraborty dismissed the petition after the government counsel pleaded that the commission was an administrative decision and that the tenure will depend on the choice of the government.
Lawyer Arindam Das had filed the petition, saying the commission’s term ends today but many duped investors are yet to receive their compensation. (PTI)