Legal expert, bank officer to help CBI probe into Saradha chit scam

New Delhi: In a bid to expedite its probe into over Rs 10,000-crore Saradha chit fund case, CBI has assigned a bank officer and a legal expert with the Special Investigating Team (SIT) for the case. CBI Director Ranjit Sinha also held his first meeting last evening with the SIT during which an action plan was drawn up to probe the matter.

The Director told his team of officers to expedite the probe as it involved the trust of common people as well as the Supreme Court in CBI, official sources said. Deputy Legal Advisor to Anti-corruption Branch VS Shukla and Bank officer attached with CBI's Anti Corruption Bureau of Patna BK Sinha will be assisting the seven-member SIT during the probe, they said.

CBI has already started collecting documents in these cases from West Bengal, Odhisa, Bihar and Northeast and may also probe the role of of market regulators like Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and RBI. Role of officials of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs will also be scrutinised during the probe, they said. With nearly 300 or 400 FIRs and complaints being filed in all these states, CBI would be taking legal opinion before finalising the number of cases to be filed in the case.

CBI Special Director Anil Kumar Sinha has been asked to monitor the progress in the probe into the cases and exercise administrative control under the overall supervision of the CBI Director. The team was formed in the wake of the Supreme Court order on Friday on a PIL on Friday asking for a CBI and directing the state police to cooperate with the central agency in the investigation.

An expert opinion will be taken by CBI to probe the role of SEBI, authorities under the Companies Act and the RBI as directed by the apex court which had said "investigation conducted so far puts a question mark on the role of regulatory authorities like SEBI, Registrar of Companies and officials of the RBI within whose respective jurisdictions and areas of operation the scam not only took birth but flourished unhindered."

Saradha Group's chief Sudipta Sen was arrested by West Bengal Police in Kashmir last year. Kunal Kumar Ghosh, a Trinamool Congress MP, was also arrested on November 23 last year in connection with the scam. Ghosh was the media CEO of Saradha Group of Companies.