As lakhs of investors in West Bengal lose their savings in a chit fund scam following the collapse of the Saradha Group, the state government on Monday formed a special investigation team (SIT) and instituted a high-level inquiry into chit fund companies operating in the state. ...
11:55 PM, Apr 22, 2013
CNN-IBN's Principal Correspondent Priyanka Gupta joined IBNLive readers for an interaction on the West Bengal chit fund scam. Q. Is this because Trinamool is in limelight right now while in other states such scams with thousands of crores are generally brushed under the carpet like in UP or in Karnataka where direct govt role or big corporates are involved. Asked by: Ravi A. I am not too sure if it...
07:13 PM, Apr 22, 2013
Kolkata: As lakhs of investors in West Bengal lose their savings in a chit fund scam following the collapse of the Saradha Group, the state government on Monday formed a special investigation team (SIT) and instituted a high-level inquiry into chit fund companies operating in the state. Earlier, the Chief Minister of the state Mamata Banerjee on Monday accused the Centre and the Left of trying to defame her by...
04:44 PM, Apr 22, 2013
New Delhi: The Calcutta High Court on Monday granted leave to file a PIL in the West Bengal chit fund scam. The PIL sought a CBI enquiry into the scam and compensation to the depositors, also alleging vicarious liability by the government. The PIL said it was the duty of the state and the central government to pay compensation to the depositor and also to fix the responsibility of the...
12:32 PM, Apr 22, 2013
New Delhi: The Delhi Police on Monday arrested the General Secretary of Students Federation of India (SFI) and five others in connection with the heckling incident during which West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and state Finance Minister Amit Mitra were attacked by suspected SFI activists in Delhi as they tried to enter the Planning Commission building. The Trinamool Congress on Monday warned that it will not allow Parliament to...
11:57 AM, Apr 22, 2013
Kolkata: As the chit fund meltdown is spreading like a contagion in rural Bengal, a 50-year-old woman, who had deposited Rs 30,000 in Saradha Group, on Sunday, succumbed to her injuries after she set herself on fire. The woman set herself on fire on Saturday evening at her home after coming to know that the company had gone bust. Meanwhile, the Mamata government is on the defensive with the Left...
08:42 AM, Apr 22, 2013
Kolkata: Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Asim Dasgupta on Sunday urged the central government to step in and launch a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the collapse of chit fund-funded company Saradha Group. Dasgupta, a noted economist who held the finance portfolio for 24 years during the Left Front rule, also rejected allegations that chit fund companies had flourished during the LF regime. "My question...
04:23 AM, Apr 22, 2013
Kolkata: A 50-year-old woman, who had deposited money in chit fund company Saradha Group, on Sunday succumbed to her injuries after she set herself on fire, while a man tried to poison himself, even as political parties traded charges over the scandal. Urmila Pramanik, a resident of Baruipur in South-24 Parganas district, who had invested Rs 30,000 with the chit fund company, set herself on fire on Saturday evening at...
10:23 PM, Apr 21, 2013
Midnapore: Even as the country agitates over the rape of a minor in Delhi, another shameful incident has come to light in West Bengal's East Midnapore district. A 32-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly trying to rape a 3-year-old child. The accused is a truck driver and the victim was his neighbour's daughter. He will be produced in court on Monday. The victim has been admitted to a local...
09:59 PM, Apr 21, 2013
Kolkata: Threatening to file defamation suit against CPI(M) leaders for alleging that he had received crores from absconding Saradha Group chairman Sudipta Sen, TMC general secretary Mukul Roy on Sunday said the government will take steps to book the accused and protect investors' interest. "These are baseless allegations. I will file a defamation suit against them (CPI(M) leaders)," Roy said referring to the allegation of his receiving money from the...
09:14 PM, Apr 21, 2013
Kolkata: Mamata Banerjee's government feels the heat as one of the largest chit fund companies in West Bengal collapses. Fearing a backlash from upset investors, thousands of the Saradha Group agents have gathered in Kolkata seeking state government's intervention. But the company's proximity to the Trinamool Congress has put the government in a corner. "If the government does something for us, then it's fine. Then they'll get votes else we...
08:05 AM, Apr 21, 2013
Kolkata: The opposition Congress on Saturday accused West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress government of having close links with chit fund-funded Saradha Group, which has gone bust, and demanded probe by the CBI and capital market regulator SEBI. "The state government has very close relations with a few groups and people, and it stopped the government from taking appropriate actions at the right time," Congress's state unit president Pradip Bhattacharya said....
05:52 AM, Apr 21, 2013
Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday blamed the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in New Delhi for playing "sheer politics" by not yet releasing its share of the funds for the rural job scheme. Bengal's spending on the 100 days of jobs provided under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) was the country's highest at Rs.4,408.70 crore, as against a total fund availability of...
05:29 AM, Apr 21, 2013
Kolkata: One of the directors of the 'chit fund' company Saradha Group was on Saturday arrested while its Chairman and Managing Director Sudipta Sen was still at large. "We have arrested Manoj Kumar Nagel who is one of the directors of the company from Bidhannagar. We are also looking out for their chairman Sudipta Sen by keeping a vigil at airport and other places," a senior police official at Bidhannagar...
10:25 PM, Apr 20, 2013
Kolkata: Violent clashes broke out between the investors and employees of a chit fund company in Barasat, in the Moyna area of North 24 Parganas district, on Saturday. The incident happened after investors demanding refund gathered near a local chit fund organisation's office. Scores of people were injured after crude bombs were hurled and large scale brick-batting took place between the two groups. Police resorted to lathicharge to disperse the...
06:44 PM, Apr 20, 2013
Kolkata: A medical team from the private clinic, where she was treated recently, on Friday examined West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at her Writers' Buildings office for an hour and advised her complete rest. "Since she is busy in her office, we could not contact her and so we directly came here to examine her," Subroto Maitra, head of the medical team from Belle Vue Clinic, where Mamata was...
08:20 PM, Apr 19, 2013
Kolkata: Unable to bear the ignominy of seeing the youth who had allegedly raped his wife go free, a man in West Bengal's Hooghly district committed suicide, his family said. Police maintained there was no evidence against the accused. "Despite our complaint, the police released him (alleged rapist) the very same day he was arrested. He used to threaten us with dire consequences after we filed the complaint. My husband...
01:38 AM, Apr 19, 2013
The culture of political violence in Bengal is not even sparing holy grounds such as Presidency College (now University) which were till now protected from acts of violence and hooliganism. ...
11:37 PM, Apr 18, 2013
New Delhi: The Students Federation of India (SFI) on Wednesday apologised for the attack on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Finance Minister Amit Mitra in New Delhi earlier this month. The duo were heckled by SFI activists as they made their way to the Planning Commission building in the capital. Mitra suffered injuries during the melee and had to be hospitalised later on. SFI General Secretary Ritabrata Banerjee,...
07:45 PM, Apr 17, 2013
Kolkata/Siliguri: Stoking controversy, a leader of CPI(M) student wing who was arrested after a clash with ruling Trinamool Congress activists, has been chained to his bed at a state-run hospital in judicial custody. The first year student, Santosh Sahani, of SFI was arrested on April 10 after a clash between Trinamool Congress and Left supporters in Siliguri. The chain was later removed following an uproar with activists alleging violation of...
11:23 PM, Apr 16, 2013
