Ponzi scheme scam: ED officials arrest Rose Valley chief Gautam Kundu
Enforcement directorate officials on Wednesday arrested Gautam Kundu, head of Rose Valley group, for his alleged connection with the ponzi scam. Kundu was arrested after an intense questioning by the directorate officials.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Rose Valley owner Gautam Kundu on Wednesday in connection with a multi-crore chit fund scam.
Earlier, the ED had frozen more than 2,700 bank accounts of the group and had also started the process of attaching its properties.
Two years ago, after the Saradha scam surfaced, Saradha owner Sudipta Sen and Debjani Mukherjee were arrested from Kashmir. The names of several Trinamool Congress MLAs, MPs and ministers such as Kunal Ghosh, Srinjoy Bose and Madan Mitra were linked to the scam.
ED sources said Rose Valley had collected more than `15,000 crore from depositors across India, especially in West Bengal, Assam and Bihar, an amount at least six times more than what was collected by the Saradha group.
Kundu was interrogated for more than five hours on Wednesday before he was officially arrested by the ED. Sources said he was hiding information regarding his other bank accounts where money is still being deposited.
Officials also came to know that his company was still collecting money in Bihar and Assam through the chain marketing system. After examining his bank account details, ED officials found gaps in money collection and Kundu’s investment in properties.
The ED officials were sure that huge amounts were siphoned off and transferred to other accounts to dodge investigators.
“We have to interrogate thoroughly as we have clinching evidence of money transferred to other accounts after we froze most of his accounts,” said an ED official.
The officials are now certain that a major portion of the money was given to influential politicians for the smooth running of the chain marketing business of the group.