CBI summons 2 West Bengal police officials in Saradha scam case

The CBI has summoned two officials of West Bengal Police in connection with its probe into Saradha chit fund scam on Wednesday, officials said.

Arnab Ghosh, the then Deputy Commissioner (detective department) of Bidhannagar Commissionerate, and senior police official Dilip Hazra have been summoned for questioning at CBI's Kolkata office, they said.

Both the officers were part of the West Bengal Police Special Investigation team which probed the Saradha ponzi scam, officials said.


The agency had summoned former Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar for questioning on Monday, but he did not appear before the agency. He told the CBI that he was on leave.

No new notice has been issued to Kumar, a 1989-batch IPS officer, who had headed the SIT in the case, they said.

As part of the Rs 2,500 crore scam, the Saradha group of companies duped lakhs of customers, promising higher rates of returns on their investment, the CBI had said.

Its promoter Sudipta Sen was arrested from Sonmarg in Kashmir in 2013, it said.

Similar modus operandi was adopted by other ponzi companies like Rose Valley operating in West Bengal, Odisha and north eastern states where gullible investors were duped, officials added.

The Supreme Court had ordered CBI probe into the scam wherein the probe agency has allegedly detected a collusion of scheme operators, police personnel, politicians among others.