BHUBANESWAR: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday filed charge-sheets against the two TMC MPs --Sudip Bandopadhyay and Tapas Paul--in the Rs 17,000 crore Rose Valley Group scam.
The probe agency, which had earlier submitted a charge-sheet against chairman of the Ponzi group Gautam Kundu, filed its supplementary charge-sheet before the special CBI court here in which the two TMC MPs as well as Rose Valley Marketing India Ltd were named.
The supplementary charge-sheet naming Kundu, Bandhopadhyay, and Paul has been submitted under Sections 120B with Sections 409 and 420 IPC, Section 4 and 6 of Prize Chits and Money Circulation Banning Act, and Sections 13(2) with 13(1)(d) of Prevention of Corruption Act 1988. The charges against the company have also been filed under the same sections.
While Kundu headed the company that ran Ponzi schemes under the garb of holiday packages, the TMC MPs had occupied positions as directors in the company during different periods.
Paul was arrested by the CBI on December 30 whereas Bandopadhyay was held on January 3. The two are currently undergoing treatment at a private hospital in the city since February.
Interestingly, the charge-sheets have come about a week after TMC chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee visited the two MPs at Bhubaneswar.
The West Bengal CM who has been strident in her opposition to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s demonetisation move, has already termed the arrest of the two party MPs as political vendetta by the BJP.
The Rose Valley Group irregularities are the biggest in the Ponzi scam and spreads across three States including Tripura, WB and Odisha. In the State, it had mobilised over Rs 450 crore from the investors. Earlier, a chargesheet in the case was filed on January 7 against four persons including the chairman, managing director, two directors, and three private companies.