 "Enforcement Directorate")
Almost after eight years since the central agencies launched their probes in the multi-crore Saradha Chit fund scam in West Bengal, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a renewed activity froze two bank accounts of an erstwhile official of the said entity, who is also a retired Indian Police Service (IPS) officer.
Rajat Majumdar, the retired director general of the West Bengal Police who later became the vice-chairman of the Saradha Group, had also joined active politics as the Trinamool Congress's state vice-president.
In September 2014, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested Majumdar in connection with the agency's ongoing probe into the Rs 2,000 crore Saradha Ponzi scam.
ED sources informed that Majumdar was also questioned at the agency's Salt Lake office in two phases till late Saturday night.
His statements on this count were also recorded by the integrating sleuths.
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The sources added that in the coming days, the ED might summon other influential people who are believed to be the beneficiaries of the scam.
Now, the ED's renewed activity into the scam has created ripples in the political circles of the state.
Some political advisors attribute a recent comment by Calcutta High Court's Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay in the Saradha matter as the prompting factor for this renewed activity.
On November 18 while finalising the name of CBI's deputy inspector general, Ashwin Shenvi as the head of the special investigation team (SIT) of the agency probing the multi-crore teachers' recruitment scam in West Bengal, Justice Gangopadhyay made a comment that he does not want the fate of this probe to be like that of Saradha scam.
The ED's renewed activity in the matter started just 24 hours after Justice Gangopadhyay made those comments.
Currently, both Sudipto Sen, the founder chairman and managing director of Saradha Group and his close associate, Debjani Mukherjee are currently in CBI custody.
--IANS
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