Saradha group promoter Sudipta Sen, who had brought misfortune for thousands of journalists and others, was finally arrested along with his two close associates today in connection with the West Bengal chit fund scam. The three were arrested on their way from Srinagar to Sonmarg in Jammu and Kashmir.
Along with Sen, his associates Debjani Mukherjee and Arvind Singh were found in a SUV, which had West Bengal number plate. Their arrests came on a day after an agent of the Saradha group, attempted suicide in Kolkata by consuming sleeping pills
Lakhs of investors and depositors in West Bengal lost their savings in the chit fund scam following the collapse of the Saradha group. The crisis in the group had forced it to wind up at least 10 media organisations that the company had launched since 2010. Over a thousand of journalists were left jobless and the depositors attempted suicide.
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With Saradha group’s debacle, many depositors were counting the days to overcome the period of adversity as they were refunded nothing. While many protested, some attempted suicide.
The state government looked a mere spectator and shifted the blame on the Left. On the other hand, the CPI-M accused the ruling TMC government of supporting the chit fund companies. The opposition tried to show their clean image saying, the party had been warning the Centre for the past few years that the chit fund firms were looting the depositors in the name of giving double amount of their savings.
The Left parties said that their MLAs and MPs had met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh twice last year regarding the matter. Even they had submitted a memorandum for the safeguard of money of the small investors, who were allegedly affected by chit fund companies.
However, all their attempts went in vain and depositors were cheated by the chit fund companies.