CBI arrests Bengal businessman in ₹500-cr investment scheme fraud

THE PAILAN GROUP, WHICH SHUT DOWN ITS OPERATIONS OVER TWO YEARS AGO, HAD ALLEGEDLY RAISED FUNDS BY PROMISING HIGH RETURNS, AGENCY OFFICIALS SAID

KOLKATA: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday arrested Apurba Saha, founder and chairman of West Bengalbased Pailan group, in connection with an over ~ 500-crore investment fraud, officials said.

The company, which shut down its operations more than two years ago, had allegedly raised more than ~500 crore from investors by promising them high returns, agency officials said. The CBI had registered a case against the group in 2017. Saha will be produced in court on

Wednesday. CBI officers also searched Saha’s south Kolkata residence and his offices in two districts, one of the officials cited above said on condition of anonymity.

The case is similar to the ones the CBI has been investigating in West Bengal since 2014 — the Saradha and Rose Valley chit funds cases. The ~24,000-crore Saradha scam began to unravel in the first quarter of 2013 when investors demonstrated in front of the ruling Trinamool Congress office demanding the government take action against the group’s officials for defaulting on payments.

It was finally unearthed in April 2013 when the chairman of the group, Sudipta Sen and the company’s executive director, Debjani Mukherjee were arrested in J&K by the state police.

The ~17,000-core Rose Valley scam is the biggest ponzi scam in Bengal in terms of the money involved. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is also probing both the cases under Prevention of Money Laundering Act.