Bengal SIT constituted by Mamta was to hide facts, CBI reveals

Saradha scam: CBI raid stuns Bengal SIT

Dwaipayan Ghosh,TNN | Aug 1, 2014, 03.18 AM IST

KOLKATA: Forty members of a crack CBI team were flown to Kolkata on Thursday morning to conduct whirlwind raids across the city, taking state police completely by surprise. Bidhannagar cops tried out their usual delaying tactics, claiming that they did not have the keys to Sudipta Sen's HA block flat. The CBI team simply broke the locks. 

Bengal SIT officers — already dreading CBI action for failing to provide all evidence to the central agency — were in for a shock. CBI's surprise raiders comprised bank officers and officers who had earlier probed the Satyam fraud. If the agency wanted to send out a message, they were successful. 

At the airport itself, the sleuths split into smaller teams and crisscrossed the entire length of the city. Their first stop was Saradha's Midland Park office, after which they moved quickly to the FD, HA and BN block properties in Salt Lake by noon. The maximum focus was on Saradha's Behala office and Sen's residences in Salt Lake. The search at Behala started at 2pm and lasted four hours, after which the last stop was Bishnupur in South 24-Parganas. The search at Sen's HA home lasted over seven hours. 

CBI said new, crucial documents were unearthed in every search. "CBI today conducted searches in 10 locations — five houses of arrested persons and five offices of two private companies. Incriminating documents relating to various business transactions have been recovered," a CBI spokesperson said in Delhi. 

"We were amazed to find LCDs worth crores at the HA property. We also found old, expensive wine, some of which cost Rs 35,000 per bottle. At the Behala office, we found a secret room from where several bank documents were seized," said a source. Seeing the raid, many duped investors gathered outside the HA block house, urging them to unearth "documents that Bidhannagar police were hiding". Though reports of CBI recovering trunks and fridges packed with documents kept doing the rounds all day, CBI officials refused comment. 

Simultaneous raids were carried out in Odisha at 20 locations, including the houses of two top BJD and BJP politicians. 

In Kolkata, cops were taken by surprise. "The CBI team had told us that they would meet us on Wednesday to discuss evidence but did not turn up. On Thursday, they flatly told us that we must arrange for raids within half an hour and that they would meet us once their raids get over. We are expecting a team to reach the Bidhannagar police HQ late tonight," said a state SIT officer. Interestingly, this officer did not claim that all evidence had been handed over to CBI, as claimed by CID officials earlier. "We will share all evidences and seizure lists yet again if required," he said. Many see this as a climbdown as SIT had earlier refused to entertain both CBI and ED's pleas. Highly-placed sources said CBI is in the process of receiving documents related to the scam from Bengal and Odisha Police. "CBI director Ranjit Sinha met Bengal DGP GMP Reddy recently where he was assured of all help related to the probe," said the source. 

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has issued orders for attachment of Saradha property worth Rs 5.40 crore in Assam and Tripura under money laundering laws. These include a resort and a pricey land in Guwahati, a plot in Dhubri and a biogas plant in Tripura, officials said, adding all these assets were allegedly purchased by Sudipta Sen using tainted money. "These assets have been frozen as proceeds of crime," an officer said. With this, ED has attached assets worth around Rs 146 crore so far.