Saradha chit fund scam: First case of murder reported, another person commits suicide

HOOGHLY/BARASAT: The tragic fallout of the multi-crore Saradha chit fund scam in West Bengal escalated today with the first case of murder being reported in the state after eight people committed suicide.

A director of Hello India chit fund company was found murdered by suspected depositors at Chunchura in Hooghly district at his residence.

Jayanta Sarkar (48) was allegedly killed with a sharp weapon last night, the police said today. The fatal attack was stated to be the first reported case of murder in connection with the Saradha scam.

According to an FIR lodged at the Chunchura police station by Sarkar's wife Papiya Sarkar today, three men, Abhijit Saha and Abdullah Rashid from Coochbehar and Biplab Biswas from Haringhata, killed her husband and draped the body in a cloth before they fled.

The number of people who committed suicide after the Saradha Group went bust rose to eight with the 60-year-old father of a chit fund company agent ending his life in North 24-Parganas district distressed over his son's inability to repay money to investors.

Jagadish Roy, father of Bidhan Roy who was the agent of Anex Chit Fund, was found hanging at his home at Rishi Bankim Gar colony at Sodepur this morning, the police said.

Regarding the murder case, Chunchura SP Tanmoy Roychowdhury quoting the victim's wife said that Sarkar had repayed most of the amount taken from the depositors.

He said Sarkar, who also owned a factory at Howrah and a office in Kolkata, was trying to sell the two premises to raise funds to repay money to depositors.

Protests are being held by the investors and agents of the company in different parts of the state and there have been reports of vandalism in the chit fund company's offices and its other properties.

A few days ago Ranjit Pramanik who had invested heavily in the collapsed Saradha Group had committed suicide by consuming poison at Thakurchawk in the Joynagar area of South 24-Parganas district.

On April 20, 50-year-old Urmila Pramanik, a resident of Baruipur in South 24 Parganas district, who had invested Rs 30,000 in the Saradah group, had set herself on fire. She succumbed to her injuries the next day in the Chittaranjan Hospital in Kolkata.

Swapan Kumar Biswas (36), a money collection agent of the Saradha group who had deposited Rs four lakh from his personal savings in the scam-ridden company, was found hanging from the ceiling of his house at Balrampur in Purulia district on April 27.

Three agents of the Saradha group also committed suicide at Mathurapur, Diamond Harbour and Falta in South 24-Parganas district after the company went bust.

The unfolding chit fund scandal also drove the owner of such a company, a hotelier, to take his own life in South 24-Parganas district recently.