Home Trade scam has wider repercussions

The home trade scam could involve the misappropriation of at least Rs 500 crore, as irregularities have been traced in other parts of the co...

The home trade scam could involve the misappropriation of at least Rs 500 crore, as irregularities have been traced in other parts of the country, including a provident fund scheme in Kolkata, police sources said here.

‘The scam would touch the Rs 500 crore figure and irregularities have been noticed in several states including Gujarat and West Bengal’, sources in economic offenses branch said.

In Kolkata, the group’s involvement has been linked to the Rs 82 lakh forgery in a central government undertaking employees provident fund scheme, sources said, adding a two-member team of anti-corruption branch, Kolkata, arrived here today to pursue further investigations.

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Six persons, including Home Trade Chairman Sanjay Agarwal and Director (Securities Trade) Ketan Seth, were arrested after the scam, involving at least Rs 300 crore, came to light.

While Agarwal, who was given bail in the Nagpur case, is held in Pune, Seth is in Valsad jail in gujarat, sources said adding four others including Chairman, Vice Chairman and General Manager of Raghuvanshi Cooperative Bank and an employee of the Home Trade were released on bail.

‘More arrests, particularly of the directors, were likely’, sources said.

Besides, West Bengal, the irregularities have been detected in Surat, Valsad and other parts of Gujarat, sources said, adding ‘in Gujarat, the scam of Rs 25 crore involved various cooperative banks’.

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