Saradha chairman, two firm officials flown to Kolkata

Sudipta Sen has allegedly defrauded thousands of depositors, and was arrested yesterday

Chit fund scam accused Sudipta Sen and two officials of his Saradha company were today flown to Kolkata after the West Bengal police was granted four days transit remand by a court here.

Sen, chairman of the Saradha chit fund company, which has allegedly defrauded thousands of depositors, was arrested yesterday along with Debjani Mukherjee, a director, and Arvind Singh Chouhan, who looked after the firm's operations in Jharkhand.

They were presented before Chief Judicial Magistrate of Ganderbal, Parvez Hussain Kachroo, who granted the transit remand for which the application was filed by the West Bengal police. Initially the three had been detained in Sonamarg by the Jammu and Kashmir police.

The trio were being flown to Kolkata via Delhi. Before being produced before the court, Sen, Mukherjee and Chauhan were put through medical examination after which doctors declared them fit to be taken out of the Valley.

Lakhs of investors of the chit fund group have hit the roads alleging they have been duped of huge amounts. Hundreds of agents of the company have also been rendered jobless.

According to the police, the three accused had set out from the Salt Lake residence of Sen in Kolkata on April 12 in a Scorpio vehicle with a West Bengal registration number. They first drove to Ranchi and then through different states before reaching Sonamarg. The vehicle has been seized.

The bubble burst after capital market regulator SEBI started cracking the whip on chit fund companies for flouting rules, triggering pressure on the group's finances.

The West Bengal government has announced formation of a Special Investigation Team and a high-level inquiry into chit fund companies after the collapse of the Saradha group.