SC refuses court monitoring of Saradha chit fund scam probe

The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a plea by a group of investors for court monitoring of the probe into the Rs 10,000-crore Saradha chit fund scam by the CBI and the Directorate of Enforcement. "We are not inclined to pass any order," said the bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi as senior counsel Vikas Singh appearing for a group of investors cited allegations of destruction of evidence and delay in the completion of the probe, which has been on since 2013.

The Rs 10,000-crore scam refers to money collected by the West Bengal-based Saradha Group through Ponzi investment schemes from 25 lakh depositors not just in the state, but also from neighbouring Odisha, Assam, Bihar and Jharkhand. On February 5, the top court had directed Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar to cooperate with the CBI in the investigation, which is taking place in Shillong.

Rajeev Kumar had headed the SIT constituted by the Mamata Banerjee government, which investigated the Saradha scam case for a year. Monday was the third day of his questioning by the CBI.

Given the inter-state nature of the alleged scam, the top court had on May 9, 2014 handed over to the CBI the investigation into all its cases. Pointing to the quantum of money and its inter-state ramifications, the court had on May 9, 2014 said, "The possibility that such huge collections could have international money laundering dimensions cannot be ruled out and needs to be effectively investigated."