The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Crime Branch, Orissa, on Friday began probe into the alleged financial fraud committed by the West Bengal-based Saradha Group in the state.
A team of Crime Branch officials broke open the locked offices of the company at Balasore, nearly 200 km from here in north Orissa, and seized a number of computers, piles of records relating to various businesses of the group; air-conditioners and other electronic equipment.
Balasore was Saradha Group’s hub of activities in Orissa, although it had got two other major centres at Sambalpur and Puri.
Sources said Saradha Group collected over `15 crore from Balasore alone. In Sambalpur and Balasore, the company has bought huge patches of land for its real estate businesses.
What has generated much curiosity about Saradha Group’s presence in the state and its subsequent duping of local investors is its link with an “influential” leader. In his controversial letter to the CBI, Sudipta Sen, the arrested chairman of the company, has said the “influential” Orissa politicians has taken `3 crore him to extend political patronage. He, however, has not mentioned the name of the politician.
The seizure of computers and other records might lead to the Crime Branch to the “mysterious” politician, hoped a senior police officer. The CB has registered cases on the basis of complaints filed by hundreds of investors in different parts of the state.
Sources in the Crime Branch said plans were already afoot to bring Sudipta Sen and Debjani Mukherjee, the director of the company, to the state on transit remand for interrogation.
Saradha had collected crores of rupees from investors, promising them handsome returns in quick time. Like in West Bengal, the company had collected funds through local agents.