Saradha chit fund scam: Arunachal MP writes to PM, appeals for probe of FIs activities in North East

ITANAGAR: With the Saradha chit fund scam hogging the headlines, Arunachal Pradesh MP Takam Sanjoy has urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to order a probe into the activities of hundreds of financial institutions operating across the North East region.

Sanjoy, in a letter to the PM yesterday, claimed that many of these institutions were fraudulently collecting huge chunks of money from the poor people of the region, particularly from those living in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.

"This serious and heavy misappropriation of funds is in addition to the chit fund scam of the Saradha Group in West Bengal, which has been exposed now," the letter, a copy of which was made available to the media, said.

Sanjoy further wrote in the letter that he has urged Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi several times since April last year to sit up and look into the issue.

"All of these companies have operated from Assam with the singular objective of cheating the poor and tribals of the north-east for decades.

"A large number of these companies are either fake or working without adhering to norms set down by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)," the letter claimed.

"I met a number of these affected depositors in December last year, and have requested Tarun Gogoi to order an investigation into this illegal inflow of public money and their subsequent investment in fake companies that operate from his state," Sanjoy told the media.