Sebi staff may be involved in Bengal chit fund scam

KOLKATA: Bidhannagar City Police on Tuesday summoned businessman Sajjan Agarwala and three others in connection with Saradha boss Sudipta Sen's claim that he had links with financial regulatory authorities and influential politicians.
During interrogation, Sen reportedly claimed that a section of senior Securities Exchange Board Of India (Sebi) officials was on his "direct pay roll" to avoid any hassles in his money marketing trade.According to reports, Sen alleged that he had paid a huge amount to Agarwala who promised him to "cover the Sebi matter" flaunting his connections.
In his letter to CBI, too, Sen had alleged that Agarwala and his son took Rs 5 crore in 2010 and thereafter Rs 80 lakh approximately every month to maintain "arrangements" with Sebi and other financial regulatory authorities. Sen has also reportedly told the investigators that Agarwala has close links with a top politician. Before recording Agarwala's statement, investigators examined Sen's drivers who allegedly acted as couriers to deliver the cash to Agarwal.
The detective chief of Bidhannagar City Police, Arnab Ghosh, said that four persons whose names had cropped up during interrogation were interrogated on Tuesday. He refused to disclose the names. He said the police on Tuesday traced an expensive imported car of Sen's hidden at a south Kolkata garage. Sen reportedly instructed one of his close relatives to sell it off before he left the city.
Sources said that long before leaving the city, Sen had perhaps sensed that his empire was crumbling and sold off two other imported cars - a BMW and a Mercedes Benz. Probe revealed that all these expensive cars were for his son Subhojit and he never used these. The seized car - a Mercedes Benz (HR10J 3434) - has a Haryana registration number and police have reasons to believe that it can fetch more than Rs50 lakh. The car was traced at Deshapriya Park in south Kolkata. Sen's son Subhojit had allegedly parked the car at one of his friend's home in south Kolkata.
Apart from Agarwala, cops also recorded the statement of a senior official of East Bengal Club who reportedly was closely associate with Sen. In his letter and during interrogation, Sen alleged that this official had introduced him to Agarwala. In this connection, police also summoned another businessman and a woman who were reportedly directors of Saradha Group.
Investigators hinted that they are not ruling out the possibility that Sen had a nexus with a section of Sebi officials. "He violated all Sebi rules for long. But the authority never took any action," said an investigator. This has raised questions among investigators not only about the role of Sebi officials but also a section of bank officials who lent money to Sen.
Sleuths, who have apparently claimed that Sen's letter to CBI does not come under their purview of investigation, have however started summoning people whose names were mentioned in the letter. The course of investigation suggests that police can't ignore Sen's letter and to unearth the truth, they will also have to take into account the politicians whom Sen blamed in his letter.