NEW DELHI: The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has attached movable and immovable assets worth over Rs 6 crores of various individuals, including that of Nalini Chidambaram and former IPS and ex-CPM MP Debendranath Biswas and a company owned by former Assam minister late Anjan Dutta in connections with the multi-croreSaradha money laundering case.
According to ED sources, the agency attached movable assets worth Rs 3.30 crore and immovable assets with a value of over Rs 3 crore in its ongoing investigation into the matter of Saradha Group of Companies under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. These properties were owned by the Saradha Group and other persons, who were beneficiaries of proceeds of crime generated by the Saradha Group of Companies.
The beneficiaries include Nalini Chidambaram, eminent lawyer and wife of ex-Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Debabrata Sarkar of East Bengal Club, Debendranath Biswas (Ex IPS and ex MLA CPM) and Anubhuti Printers and Publications owned by Late Shri Anjan Dutta, ex-minister in Assam.
Saradha Group ran a chit-fund scam with operations spread over the states of West Bengal, Assam and Orissa, till 2013. The quantum of total money mobilised by this group company is about Rs 2459 crore out of which nearly Rs 1983 crore remains unpaid to the depositors to date excluding the interest amount.
The ED had registered a case against Saradha Group of Companies in 2013 on the basis of FIRs by Kolkata Police and CBI. In the past, prior to the issue of this attachment order, ED Kolkata had issued eight Provisional Attachment Orders attaching assets and properties to the tune of more than Rs 600 crores.