Saradha scam: Suicide abetment case slapped on Sudipta Sen

A suicide abetment case was registered Wednesday against suspected kingpin of Saradha Group chit fund scam Sudipta Sen and two others following the suicide of an investor, police said. A Group employee also killed himself.

"We have registered a case of abetment of suicide against Sen and two other company employees - Satyajit Basu and Arindam Das - under section 306 of the IPC," said an officer of Baruipur police station in South 24 Parganas district.

The offence is punishable with a maximum jail term of 10 years.

While Basu and Das are yet to be arrested, Sen and his two aides - company director Debjani Mukherjee and senior employee Arvind Chauhan - are behind bars and facing prosecution for cheating and conspiracy, among other offences.

The fresh suicide abetment case was registered on a complaint by Bhola Pramanik whose mother Urmila committed suicide by setting herself ablaze earlier this month in Baruipur, police said.

Urmila had invested about Rs.50,000 in Saradha and was depressed after the Group went bust, police said.

"My mother was compelled to commit suicide because the company could not refund the hard earned money she had invested. The company and Sen are responsible for her death," said Pramanik.

Sumit Das, a group D employee of the Saradha Group, was found hanging in his house late Tuesday night in Balurghat in South Dinajpur, police said.

His family members claimed Das, who had invested over Rs.30,000 in the company, was depressed ever since the scam was exposed, police said.

Accused Mukherjee, hospitalised Tuesday after a court sent her to eight days police custody, was discharged from a government hospital Wednesday and interrogated, police said.