SIT for chit fund cases

Admin   |   11 April, 2016   |   775   |   3980

Ranchi : The Union home ministry has constituted a CBI special investigation team (SIT) headed by a DIG to investigate cases related to ponzi schemes and chit funds that, investigating agencies believe, have fraudulently mobilised deposits totalling Rs 2,500 crore in Jharkhand.

According to the formal notification from the CBI headquarters in Delhi that reached Ranchi on Wednesday, the SIT would also comprise two SPs, 11 inspectors, three DSPs and three additional DSPs. All posts, including that of the DIG, are new, created specifically for the new unit.

It will be the third unit of the agency in Ranchi after the animal husbandry (AHD) unit at Kalibabu Street, formed after CBI took over investigations into the Rs 950-crore fodder scam, and the anti-corruption branch (ACB) at Morabadi.

"CBI Calcutta zone will monitor the (chit fund) cases (in Jharkhand)," a senior CBI officer told The Telegraph today. "Similar SITs to investigate chit fund fraud in Calcutta, Guwahati and Bhubaneswar have been set up and the new unit will act in tandem with these three SITs," he added.

As many as 200 FIRs were lodged by investors against deposit mobilisation firms across Jharkhand between 2012 and 2015. The CBI took over the case following an order of Jharkhand High Court in May last year. Initially, the agency picked 53 FIRs and clubbed them to form 10 cases. These were distributed among its units in the state, namely, animal husbandry (two), anti-corruption branch (two) and Dhanbad unit (six).

Sources said that the new SIT has been asked to focus on recovery of the deposits collected from unsuspecting investors after they were promised unrealistically high returns. "Of course, modus operandi of the crime will also be investigated. But, we have been told that recovery of the money from the scamsters must be a priority," the officer said.

Investigations are on in right earnest. On Thursday, the CBI carried out raids at 19 locations in Jharkhand, Bengal and Odisha in connection with chit fund cases lodged at the anti-corruption branch. Search and seizure operations were carried out at the offices and residents of those working in GNT Overseas Infrastructure, Manglam Agro Products and Equinox Land Projects in Calcutta and Sanket Investment and Marketing in Bhubaneshwar.

Offices of some of these firms at Dahigora in Ghatshila were raided. Last month, CBI conducted similar raids on 33 chit fund firms spread over 82 locations in Jharkhand, Bihar, Bengal, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh.

In Jharkhand, the CBI raided the offices of Welfare Building and Estate owned by a former Andhra MLA.