Kolkata:
The Calcutta High Court will today hear two Public Interest Litigations or PILs demanding a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) investigation into the Saradha chit fund scam that has wiped out the savings of lakhs of small investors.
One of the petitions was filed by a lawyer last week and the court had asked the West Bengal government to file an affidavit by Thursday which it has done.
The Mamata Banerjee government, sources said, does not want to hand over investigations to the CBI. But the Opposition in the state has been insisting that the investigation be handed over to the central agency.
At a public rally yesterday Ms Banerjee took a swipe at the CBI, citing the Supreme Court's severe censure of the premier investigating agency this week over its coal investigation report being vetted by the government.
Sudipta Sen, the man who headed the Saradha Group that collapsed last month, chief, is currently in police custody along with two directors in his group, Debjani Mukhopadhyay and Arvind Singh Chauhan.
Kolkata police sources have said Me Sen has been cooperative during his investigation and is divulging minute details about how he allegedly bribed politicians and officials across several states to ensure he could continue with the dodgy dealings that made him rich. (
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The Chief Minister has announced a 500-crore relief fund, part of which she said will be funded partly by new taxes on cigarettes.