Crime Branch moves finance dept to attach assets of Rose Valley

Interestingly, Rose Valley was one of the sponsors of Shahrukh Khan owned IPL team KKR

The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the state Crime Branch today moved the finance department for confiscation of properties of Kolkata headquartered chit fund firm Rose Valley.

The property details submitted to the finance department for attachment include 15 acres of land in Balasore and Puri owned by Rose Valley, bank deposits worth Rs 51 crore and about 12,000 sq feet of commercial space at Utkal Signature on the Cuttack-Bhubaneswar highway. Interestingly, Rose Valley was one of the sponsors of Shahrukh Khan owned IPL (Indian Premier League) team Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).

So far, the EOW and police had handed over documents of 14 financial entities to the finance department for property attachment including Rose Valley.

The department after verification has forwarded the documents of eight unscrupulous companies to additional district magistrates for attachment of properties. The companies include Seashore, Saradha, Sastra Enterprises Ltd, Flourish India, Nabajyoti Realcon India Ltd and Safex Group of Companies.

The EOW has already transferred the investigation of the multi-crore chit fund scam in the state to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). It had e-mailed the documents regarding 44 chit fund companies to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of CBI following the Supreme Court's order. The documents forwarded to SIT's Kolkata office included FIR copy of 203 cases registered against 44 companies, facsimile copy of charge sheets filed, number of officials arrested, people on the run, properties confiscated and vehicles seized.

In Odisha, fraudulent financial firms had duped investors to the tune of Rs 4,600 crore, affecting about one million families. Last month, CBI joint director and head of SIT Rajeev Singh had held detailed discussions with the state chief secretary, Jugal Kishore Mohapatra, home secretary V K Saxena, additional director general (crime branch) Bijay Kumar Sharma and others here to expedite the investigation process. The state government has assured full cooperation to CBI to unearth various aspects of the financial fraud.

"CBI is enquiring the matter and has registered cases against some companies. All cooperation will be provided to the probe agency," said Prakash Mishra, state director general of police.

Recently, the Commissionerate Police has written to the state finance department, seeking permission to confiscate properties of Artha Tatwa Group worth Rs 200 crore in the second phase.

The identified assets include 32 flats and 141 acres land including 41 acres within the limits of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the rest in Sambalpur, Puri and Ganjam districts.

The chit fund scam in the state is presently being probed by the Justice R K Patra Commission of enquiry. Recently, the state government extended the tenure of the Commission, set up in July last year, by six months.