Saradha scam: CBI now verifying role of regulators

CBI’s probe has revealed that at least 10 firms of the Saradha group and eight firms of the Odisha-based Rose Valley group had been identified for their alleged fraudulent activities by regulators way back in 2010-11.

The CBI probe into the Saradha chit-fund scam is verifying if statutory regulators had allegedly delayed investigations against several of the accused group firms.

CBI’s probe has revealed that at least 10 firms of the Saradha group and eight firms of the Odisha-based Rose Valley group had been identified for their alleged fraudulent activities by regulators way back in 2010-11.

“While probing the aspect of conspiracy behind the chit-fund scam, we are examining the role of a group of government officials, at both state and Central levels, and it includes a few officials belonging to statutory regulators,” said a CBI source.

The market regulators had apparently also initiated an early warning system to “detect frauds”, whose pilot-testing was to be completed by last year, said the source.

Since June this year, when the CBI took over the probe into the scam, it has lodged 50 cases against accused firms including the Saradha group and a Rose Valley group firm.

The probe found that a regulatory authority had, allegedly belatedly, issued two orders to accused firms asking them to terminate the illegal schemes and refund the depositors’ money, said the source.

The accused firms had allegedly raised the suspicions of the regulators by submitting over 60 cartons of documents but none of them pertained to the latter’s specific queries, said the source.