Saradha scam: CBI searches premises of two Assam MLAs

Two Assam MLAs of Congress, including one who spearheaded a campaign to dislodge Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and another considered close to Gogoi--today came under the CBI scanner for alleged involvement in Saradha chit fund scam.
In a coordinated action, CBI carried out searches at 14 locations in the state in which the premises of former Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and former Transport Minister Anjan Dutta were searched, sources said.
Sarma had been a powerful minister in Tarun Gogoi cabinet since 2001 but was sacked by the Chief Minister last month after he led a campaign for leadership change. Dutta is considered a Gogoi loyalist who handled important porfolios like transport.

Those whose premises were searched in today's operation included Sarma, Dutta, former DGP of Assam Shankar Baruah and singer Sadananda Gogoi and promoter of Brahmaputra Jungle Resort Tridib Sarma.
The search operation was spread across 14 places in Assam seven in Kolkata and one in Mumbai in connection with the scam.
In Kolkata, the premises of one Bapi Karim, who was a personal assistant to a minister, industrialists Sajjan and Sandhir Agarwal, a former IPS officer Deben Biswas and one Asif Khan were searched.
There are four FIRs against Saradha Group in which it is alleged that thousands of investors were duped by the company officials and their associates who swindled their deposits. Besides, there are 44 FIRs in Odisha against ponzi companies.

The Supreme Court had handed over the Saradha chit fund scam probe to CBI and asked the state governments to provide all logistical help to the CBI team investigating the matter. CBI has formed a Special Investigating Team (SIT) headed by Joint Director Rajiv Singh to also probe the role of Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and RBI.