Saradha Chit Fund Scam: ED Summons Nalini Chidambaram Again

Kolkata: The Kolkata unit of Enforcement Directorate (ED) has once again summoned senior advocate Nalini Chidambaram, wife of former Finance Minister P Chidambaram, in connection with the Saradha Ponzi scam case.

Sources confirmed that Nalini has been asked to appear before the investigation officers at CGO complex in Kolkata’s Salt Lake area on the morning of June 20.

“During investigation of this scam, her name popped up. Last week we issued a summons letter and asked her to appear before us but she didn’t turn up. This is the fourth notice which is being served to her. We are expecting her to cooperate with us in our investigation of this scam,” a senior ED official in Kolkata said.

Meanwhile, Special CBI Director Rakesh Asthana is also scheduled to be present in Kolkata on June 20 to meet all officers involved in probing the cases.

A CBI source confirmed, “Following the meeting, several initiatives would be taken to speed up the probe in all the cases, including Saradha, Narada and Rose Valley.”

Saradha Group’s chit fund scheme had collapsed in April 2013. The company was running several collective investment schemes, loosely called chit funds. It suffered an estimated loss of about Rs 2,500 crores affecting over 20 lakh depositors.

Subsequently, the Mamata Banerjee government set up an inquiry commission to investigate the scam.

Acting upon a Supreme Court order, the Centre also asked the Income Tax department to launch a multi-agency probe along with the CBI and ED.

In April 2013, Sudipta Sen, the discredited chairman of the Saradha Group, was arrested from a hotel in Kashmir along with two others. On June 4, 2013, CBI has registered four cases in connection with the Saradha chit fund scam.

Those who were named in the FIR were Debjani Banerjee (Executive Director of Saradha Group), Manoj Nagel (Director of Saradha group), Aurobindo Chauhan (Driver of Saradha group), Somnath Datta (Vice President of Saradha’s media group), and Sudipta Sen (Founder of Saradha Group) beside others.

Several top Trinamool Congress leaders and even a few Congress leaders were also arrested by the CBI in connection with the Saradha and Rose Valley Ponzi scams.