West Bengal: CBI questions Rose Valley group head in chit fund scam probe

Earlier, the CBI had arrested founder and directors of SVF Entertainment Pvt Limited (formerly Shree Ventatesh Films) Shrikanta Mohta. According to CBI sources, it is alleged that Mohta had entered into an agreement worth 25 crore with Kundu in the pretext of producing films and selling telecast rights for the Rose Valley group. It is also alleged that when Kundu wanted his money back, Mohta allegedly used influential names to threaten him.

The Rose Valley scam is one of the biggest financial frauds that rocked West Bengal in 2013. The fraud was even bigger than the Saradha scam and as per CBI’s estimates Rs 17,520 crore was reportedly raised from investors from across India.

In 2015, Kundu was arrested in a money laundering case and probed by the CBI and Enforcement Directorate. In the course of investigation, the government froze all the 2,600 bank accounts of the Rose Valley Group, which held around Rs 800 to 1,000 crore.

Meanwhile, the CBI has also summoned Mathew Samuel, the editor and MD of Narada News to appear before the agency in Kolkata on June 24 in connection with the Narada tapes scam probe. On June 10, senior IPS officer SMH Mirza appeared before CBI officials in Kolkata in connection with its probe.

It seems CBI is in mood to expedite all the cases – Saradha, Narada and Rose Valley scams after the re-election of the Modi government. All of these cases involves some big and influential names.

In the last one month, the CBI has already interrogated more than three police officers, who were part of the investigating team of the Saradha case in the initial days.

According to highly placed sources in the agency, big names involved in the chit fund scams may also be summoned soon.