AGARTALA, March 4 (TIWN): Around 8 Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials raided the head office of chit Fund Company Rose Valley at around 7:30 am, here today. No company official was present when the CBI team reached the office. Meanwhile, two agents of Rose Valley namely Narayan Debnath resident of Dhaleshwar and Santosh Kumar Bhowmik resident of Champaknagar were picked by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials for interrogation. During the raid, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials seized several documents including received vouchers from the house of Narayan Debnath. When the raids began, hundreds of agents gathered at the main office of Rose Valley here and surrounded the office fearing loss of business. A huge contingent of security forces have been deployed in the capital city to prevent any untoward incident following the arrest of Rose Valley agents and sealing of its offices here. It is to be mentioned here that earlier, two persons Rose Valley Director Ashok Saha and Branch Manager Anupam Bhattacharjee were also arrested for collecting money without any valid permission from RBI or SEBI.Rose Valley has been biggest chit fund operator in Tripura and has presence even in remote tribal areas. The company was first raided in 2011 by Tripura CID but had to back out due to ruling party's political pressure.

According to official figures, the Rose Valley had collected Rs 196 crore during the past three years, out of which an amount of Rs 86 crore has been returned on maturity. The Rose Valley authorities could not give any explanation where the remaining money is.

The Kolkata based chit fund company has several branch offices in West Bengal while over twelve thousand agents are working in the ‘down line’.

India's market regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), had earlier banned the Kolkata-based Rose Valley and several other non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) from accepting deposits from the public.

After Assam, Tripura is the second state to request a CBI probe the unlawful activities of the NBFCs and UIBs, following a major chit fund scam in West Bengal.

CBI raides Rose Valley head office at Agartala. TIWN Pic March 4

Earlier, MLA Ratan Lal Nath alleged that the state government had sent 37 cases related to NBFC cheating in 2013 but in case of Rose Valley, Sarada Group of Finance and Waris Group of Industries, the original FIR did not mention the amount of money and against 29 others the amount was shown very low. In 2014, when again CBI was requested to take up the remaining 32 cases, there too was no mention of the estimated amount cheated by the companies.
“It was a calculated move of the ruling left front government because name of many CPI-M leaders are involved in NBFC deals. Moreover, in case of Rose Valley, Sarada Group of Finance and Waris Group of Industries Chief Minister Manik Sarkar himself was involved in the promotion of them in Tripura,” he alleged.
He alleged that Rose Valley, having the largest NBFC network in the state has collected more than Rs 750 crore taking license from the state government. Altogether about Rs 1,500 core was cheated by 97 NBFCs including Rose Valley, Sarada Group and Waris but the state government has failed to take any action against them.”Unfortunately, by the time most of the NBFCs have left the state selling out their properties, neither CBI nor the state government could ensure the repayment of the commoners’ money so far,” he alleged.

Rose Valley Chaiirman cum Scamster Gaumtam Kundu with his Rs. 5 crore Rolls Royce car at Calcutta. File Photo