Small Saradha Group depositors to get back some amount: Mamata Banerjee

WEST BENGAL: The government is trying to return "some amount of money" to the poor and small depositors of the defunct chit fund company Saradha Group before the forthcoming Durga Puja, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today said.

The fund will be disbursed out of the Rs 500 crore corpus set up for the purpose, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today said here.

The money will be given to those recommended by the Justice Shyamal Sen Commission of inquiry, that had already been set up, she said.

"We are trying to start paying (compensation) of some amount of money to the poor and small depositors, who have been defrauded by the chit fund company, before the Puja if the commission which has been set up for the purpose requests us," she said at a government programme here in Burdwan.

She said the amount will be distributed among one lakh families, who were defrauded in the multi-crore chit fund scam.

After the Saradha Group collapsed in April, the Chief Minister had announced a Rs 500 crore fund to compensate the poorest of the depositors who lost their money.

At least Rs 150 crore of this amount was to be raised by increasing taxes on tobacco products, the chief minister said while announcing the fund.

The collpase of the Saradha Group and other small chit fund companies had left a trail of suicides by investors and agents.

The multi-crore chitfund scam has hit lakhs of people across the state. The opposition Congress and Left parties have demanded a CBI investigation into the scam.