CBI to probe Saradha scam, rules top court

IANS/New Delhi

In a setback to West Bengal government, the Supreme Court yesterday handed over investigation into the Saradha chit fund scam to the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) saying it would hold further investigation in all the cases including those where a charge-sheet has been filed.

The court said the CBI would undertake investigation in all cases registered in Odisha against 44 companies.

Handing over the investigation to the CBI, a bench of justice T S Thakur and justice C Nagappan asked the agency’s joint director, in charge of West Bengal and Odisha, to seek further directions in relation to transfer of any other case or cases “that may require to be transferred for investigation to CBI for a full and effective investigation into the scam”.|

Pointing to the Rs100bn collected by companies involving 25 lakh depositors, the court said that the fear “such huge collections could have international money laundering dimensions cannot be ruled out and needs to be effectively investigated”.

Pronouncing the judgment, justice Thakur said: “Investigation by the state police in a scam that involves thousands of crores collected from the public allegedly because of the patronage of people occupying high positions in the system will hardly carry conviction especially when even the regulators who were expected to prevent or check such a scam appear to have turned a blind eye to what was going on.

“The question, however, is not whether the state police has faltered. The question is whether what is done by the state police is sufficient to inspire confidence of those who are aggrieved,” the court said.

On the contention of West Bengal and Odisha that CBI had lost its credibility and was no longer independent, the court said: “There is, in our opinion, no basis of the apprehension expressed by the state governments.”