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CBI conducts raids in women-run cooperative society scam in north Bengal
Several people who deposited money in the cooperative from their daily wages filed a police complaint in 2020 when the society stopped functioning
Kolkata: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) conducted marathon raids at several locations in north Bengal’s Alipurduar district on Friday in connection with the court-ordered probe into an alleged financial scam at a women-run cooperative society, officials of the federal agency said.
The now-defunct society’s manager, Triptikana Chowdhury, and assistant accountant, Sampa Chowdhury, were questioned for over five hours at their homes and also at a temporary camp office the CBI has set up.
The case pertains to the alleged swindling of at least ₹50 crore from the society’s funds. Several people who deposited money into it from their daily wages filed a police complaint in 2020 when the society stopped functioning.
The depositors did not get any refund although the state criminal investigation department (CID), which was entrusted with the investigation, arrested three suspects.
“I don’t know anything. Please don’t ask me any question,” Sampa Chowdhury told the local media after she was questioned.
The money from depositors was taken as loan by some people who never returned it, the complainants, who moved the Calcutta high court in August this year, alleged in their petition filed before the single bench of justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay.
On August 24, justice Gangopadhyay directed the CID to hand over all documents related to the investigation to CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The judge made strong observations against the CID for failing to recover any money although it launched an investigation in 2020.
The court’s order was not carried out by CID.
On September 15, justice Gangopadhyay imposed a fine of ₹50 lakh on the CID for not handing over the case files to CBI and ED.
The CBI registered its first information report (FIR) on September 18.
Challenging the imposition of fine and also the order to hand over the case to federal agencies, the CID moved a division bench comprising justice Sabyasachi Bhattacharyya and justice Uday Kumar.
On September 21, the division bench set aside the fine but sanctioned the probe by CBI and ED.
In a parallel development on Friday, the ED detained a rice mill owner, Bakibur Rahaman, from his home at Kaikhali on the eastern outskirts of Kolkata for questioning.
An ED official said on condition of anonymity that Rahaman’s name surfaced during the ongoing probe into the recruitment scam at numerous civic bodies in Bengal.
Rahaman was detained after ED officials conducted search operations for two days at around dozen locations, including rice mills, in Nadia and North 24 Parganas districts.
