The Enforcement Directorate has provisionally attached assets worth ₹6 crore belonging to Congress leader P Chidambaram’s wife Nalini Chidambaram, and former CPM MLA Debendranath Biswas in the Saradha money laundering case. This is in addition to the assets worth about ₹600 crore attached by the ED in this case so far.
In a statement issued on Friday, the ED stated that its office in Kolkata has provisionally attached movable assets worth ₹3.30 crore and immovable assets with a value of over ₹3 crore in its ongoing investigation into the Saradha Group of Companies, which was in the chit fund business.
“These properties were owned by Saradha Group and other individuals, who were beneficiaries of proceeds of crime generated by Saradha Group of Companies. The beneficiaries include Nalini Chidambaram, Debabrata Sarkar, Debendranath Biswas (ex-IPS and ex-MLA CPM), and M/s Anubhuti Printers and Publications owned by late Anjan Dutta, ex-Minister in Assam,” said the agency.
Saradha Group’s chit fund scam went on until 2013, the ED stated. The quantum of total money mobilised by this group company, which had operations spread over the states of West Bengal, Assam, and Orissa, is about ₹2,459 crore, out of which nearly ₹1,983 crore remains unpaid to the depositors till date, excluding the interest amount, the ED revealed.
The ED registered a case against the Saradha Group of Companies in 2013 on the basis of FIRs filed by the Kolkata police and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).