NEW DELHI: As it unravels, the deep-rooted multi- crore Saradha chit-fund scam seems to have cast a wide net. Now, the latest name to figure in the rogue list is that of a decorated senior army officer who received gallantry medals for his operations in the Northeast for exceptional counter-insurgency operations. The senior Colonel of the Military Intelligence is alleged to have received `25 lakh from Saradha Group chairman and key accused Sudipta Sen.
Sen, in his 18-page confessional letter to CBI which is investigating the scam, had earlier named the Colonel, who was posted in Allahabad when he wrote it and currently in Delhi. Now, an army man, in a detailed complaint to CBI chief Ranjit Sinha, has revealed how the Colonel was minting money in the name of covert operations and involved in Saradha.
The Havildar, who claimed to have worked for the same MI unit, said that the modus operandi of the Colonel was to raid houses of businessmen or any other influential people, who were linked to militant groups, and take out all their money and stash them into chit funds like Saradha through the help of his aides. In fact, when a Major of his unit questioned the professional morality of the operations, he was moved out to the Manipur detachment, said the letter by the Havildar, while drawing CBI’s attention to the ongoing investigation into the Saradha scam.
“We are examining the details given in the complaint. At the moment, our investigators are looking into the second layer of beneficiaries of the chit fund as we have almost concluded our probe into direct beneficiaries,” said a senior CBI official.
In fact, after Sen’s letter naming the colonel, the Army had started its internal probe which is underway. The Intelligence Corps officer is a recipient of Sena Medal, one of the highest peace-time gallantries for military personnel, for his operations in Tripura. Later the Army gave him the charge of one of its secret operational units for the entire Northeast. The unit was called Corps of Intensive Surveillance, modelled after a Russian covert unit where the intelligence unit is not only mandated for gathering information but also acting upon it.
Military sources said that the unit was responsible for ‘neutralising’ many known insurgents in the Northeastern states.
The military intelligence officer, once rewarded the chief minister’s medal in Tripura for exceptional counter-insurgency efforts, has also been made an accused for abduction and murder of three persons by the Dimapur-based 3 Corps unit of the army.
In the complaint to the CBI, the army Havildar has also mentioned details of the benami properties, which the Colonel allegedly has purchased in Bangalore and other parts of the country.
Moreover, the Havildar has also given out details and photos of a meeting between a senior three-star General and real estate businessmen which was arranged by the same Colonel. The younger brother of the Colonel, who hails from Kerala, is also an officer of Intelligence Corps of the army who was under the scanner for carrying out nefarious activities detrimental to the establishment.