Chit fund depositor commits suicide as leaders trade charges

A 50-year-old woman, who had deposited money in chit fund company Saradha Group, today succumbed to her injuries after she set herself on fire, while a man tried to poison himself, even as political parties traded charges over the scandal.
Urmila Pramanik, a resident of Baruipur in South-24 Parganas district, who had invested Rs 30,000 with the chit fund company, set herself on fire last evening at her home after coming to know that the company had gone bust.
She was taken to Baruipur sub-divisional hospital with serious burns and later shifted to Chittaranjan Hospital in Kolkata where she died today.

Lakshman Ghorui of Diamond Harbour consumed poison, but his condition was stable, police said.
With charges and counter charges flying thick and fast over the scam, Trinamool Congress said West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her party had no link with chit fund company Saradha Group even as CPI-M demanded a CBI probe into the scandal and rubbished claim that such firms had mushroomed during the Left Front rule.
"The Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress have no link with Saradha Group. All allegations are baseless," Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Kunal Ghosh said.

Ghosh, who was the CEO of the media unit of group, which has closed shop failing to repay hundreds of depositors' money, said, "I was a salaried journalist of the group's media unit. When Saradha ventured into media business, I was not there. I only joined the media unit after the tie-up between Bengali daily 'Sambad Pratidin' and Saradha, not as an MP, but as a professional journalist."

Ghosh, who earlier worked as a journalist in Sambad Pratidin said, Saradha Group started its operation during the previous government. "There is no question of TMC patronising the Saradha Group," he said.
After the chit fund company went bust, the state government ordered arrest of its chairman and managing director Sudipta Sen, who is absconding.
Hundreds of depositors had laid siege to Mamata Banerjee's residence on Friday demanding return of the money invested with the group. Protests by depositors were also reported from the districts.