AGARTALA: The Tripura government has launched a crackdown on the properties owned by the Rose Valley Group in the state, an official said on Sunday.
Teams led by the sub-divisional magistrate (Sadar) of West Tripura district, confiscated five properties of the ponzi scheme company on Saturday night at various parts of the city and its outskirts, including an amusement park, a tea garden, insurance properties and a multi-storied building.
"We initiated the move following a notification issued by the state administration, effected on Friday, to attach all the movable and immovable properties of the Rose Valley Group in the state. The group has properties at 20 places in the state," SDM (Sadar) Samit Roy Chowdhury told reporters.
The notification was issued by the Principal Secretary (Finance) M Nagaraju on Friday asking the administration of various districts to confiscate the properties owned by the Rose Valley Group.
The properties were confiscated as per the provisions of the Protection of Depositors Rights Act, passed by the Tripura Assembly earlier in this regard, officials said.
The Rose Valley Group started its business in the state about 20 years ago. The Tripura High Court had last year asked the state government to set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate illegal Non Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) and chit fund companies.
IG (Law and Order) and the head of the SIT, KV Sreejesh, said they have investigated 78 cases of different chit fund companies and arrested 112 people so far.
The Rose valley scam refers to a scheme where in the company had collected thousands of crores from small investors promising them huge returns. Some estimates arrive at a figure close to Rs15,000 crore while others point out to a figure close to Rs40,000 crore. The money was collected in lieu of holiday packages or property purchases. Trouble started when the stock market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) began questioning the company’s schemes after it received numerous complaints.
The company tried to delay the proceedings but eventually, the market regulator termed its schemes as Collective Investment Schemes (CIS). The company was asked to shut the schemes and return the
funds to the investors.
Meanwhile, a number of other investigating agencies like the CBI and the ED also entered the picture eventually leading to the arrest of the company’s chairman—Gautam Kundu. Gautam is the brother
of late Kajal Kundu who founded the company almost two decades earlier. Gautam had taken over the business after the death of Kajal and his wife in a car accident.
(With PTI inputs)