Reference Auto

The Saradha Group got its money mainly from fake chit fund schemes, robbing gullible investors (especially in Bengal’s rural belt) of their savings, and in the process, mopped up over Rs 1,000 crore, which was diverted to pay off Ghosh and cater to the flamboyant lifestyles of Sen and his close aide Debjani as well as fund various projects of the Trinamool.

Clearly, the Saradha Group’s publications like Bengal Post (English daily) and Shokal Bela (Bengali) were the mouthpiece of the ruling party and did not even have a single news item criticising the state government. 

And, Ghosh, who is the Rajya Sabha representative of the Trinamool, ensured that there was no negative news on the party.

With Ghosh being the CEO of the publishing arm of the tainted group, and with the publishing wing’s employees not being paid for months, leave alone getting their provident fund, does he qualify to remain scot free? 

Moreover, with Ghosh directly involved in the scam, the party should have sacked him in the first instance. But instead, the police are just contemplating arresting him.

The only way things can come out into the open is through a CBI probe. And the state government’s order of a police probe is just not enough, firstly, because the scam is mammoth one transcending the boundaries of Bengal, reaching Jharkhand and Assam, and secondly, a probe by the state government can easily be manipulated unlike a CBI investigation.

But even after being nailed by the CBI, Kunal Ghosh and Sudipta Sen may use their widespread political connections to go scot free (and perhaps escape somewhere), may be after six months or a year’s jail, paving the way for many chit fund scams to come and go, fleecing innocent investors mainly from the state’s hinterland again and again.