ED to study CBI chargesheets in Saradha case

Enforcement Directorate, which started the Saradha ponzi scam case in April 2014, would study the charge sheets filed by CBI before filing its own, a source in the Directorate said.

"There are nine cases in the Saradha scam, out of which CBI had filed two charge sheets and a supplementary to the second one", the source told PTI. After studying the charge sheets, ED would take a decision on when to file its own in the multicrore-rupee Saradha scam. There are seven more to be filed by CBI, he said.

Although ED had started the probe into the Saradha money trail much before CBI, the Directorate would wait for the charges for the predicate offenses to be filed first. Earlier, ED had attached the properties of the Saradha Group worth around Rs 100 crore.

The Directorate had attached several properties of the Saradha Group located in South 24-Parganas district which included a resort, a huge tract of land and apartments. ED was also in the process of identifying other properties as well after which those would also be attached.

The estimated value of the attached properties was around Rs 100 crore, the sources said. Some of the properties were in the name of Saradha Group chief Sudipto Sen, while most of them were benami because of the Land Ceiling Act which prevented him from transferring them in his name. The properties were bought by Saradha group chief Sudipto Sen allegedly "out of the crime proceeds".

The attached properties, he said, would now be kept under the control of ED till the court gives its orders on what to do with them. "The idea behind attaching the properties is to recover the crime proceeds", he added.