File Photo: Saradha Group of Companies
A city court today sent top East Bengal Club official Debabrata Sarkar, an accused in the Saradha chit fund scam, to further three days' CBI custody while it remanded main accused Sudipta Sen to judicial custody till September 8.
The Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM) Alipore Court sent Sarkar, who was arrested on August 20, to CBI custody for three more days following his six-day remand on a plea by the agency for further questioning.
Sudipto Sen, who had also been taken in custody by CBI for the second time for further questioning, was remanded to judicial custody till September eight.
Five others, who are also accused in the Saradha scam and were in judicial custody, had their judicial remand extended till September eight.
They are suspended Trinamool Congres Rajya Sabha MP Kunal Ghosh, Sen's close associate Debjani Mukherjee, senior Saradha Group officials Somnath Dutta, Arvind Chowhan and Manoj Negel.
CBI, on the directions of the Supreme Court, began its probe into the scam in which it has registered a number of cases in West Bengal and Odisha.
Sarkar is accused of conspiring with Saradha top brass in the alleged misappropriation of funds of the company.
CBI has formed a Special Investigating Team (SIT) headed by Joint Director Rajeev Singh to also probe the role of Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and RBI.
"Investigation conducted so far puts a question mark on the role of regulatory authorities like SEBI, Registrar of Companies and officials of RBI within whose respective jurisdictions and areas of operation the scam not only took birth but flourished unhindered," an apex court bench headed by Justice T S Thakur had said in its order.