AGARTALA, March 5 (TIWN): At a time when the Tripura assembly session recently witnessed unprecedented bedlam as the opposition Congress created a ruckus demanding that the government promise security for the money deposited by the people in chit fund companies, the Special CBI teams on Wednesday raided seven Tripura offices of Kolkata-based Rose Valley Group, a chit fund company, and seized many official documents. CBI is apprehending that Rose Valley scam may turn out to be a bigger scandal than Saradha. Besides, the Rose valley Chief Goutam Kundu reportedly all set to reveal the main backers from Tripura CPI(M) and other political parties towards the flourishing business of the Rose valley here in state. It is to be mentioned here that the CBI during their raid has taken the name of a section of CPI (M) leaders and MLAs. CPIM leaders like Minister Bijita Nath who was herself a main Rose Valley agent from Dharmangar and other listed leaders are likely to be interrogated very soon.

The CBI on Wednesday conducted raids at 43 locations of the Rose Valley Group across the country, including 27 in West Bengal, 7 in Tripura and 1 location each in Odisha, Assam, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Tamil Nadu, in connection with the multi-crore-rupee chit fund scam. The Enforcement Directorate, which is also probing the scam, had sealed several bank accounts of the group across the country and interrogated its chairman Gautam Kundum, with the CBI team today reportedly interrogated the Chief Kundu, and this has today marked the day with the interrogation likely to reveal the Tripura faces behind the musk. According to the sources the investigations revealed that the Rose Valley Group raised as much as Rs 10,281 crore from investors while Saradha firms had mobilised Rs 2,459 crore. However but the CBI raids in the offices of Rose Valley Group in Tripura are a part of the agency's nation-wide search in the offices of the chit fund group. The CBI is yet to arrest anybody but is scrutinizing official documents of the company.

However today the Congress legislator Gopal Roy raised the issue in the ongoing assembly session and asked Chief Minister Manik Sarkar to inform the house about the CBI raids. "I do not know anything about the CBI raids," Sarkar, who also holds the home portfolio, told the house.

It is to be mentioned here that Rose valley chief Goutam Kundu’s custody probably can reveal how the Rose valley here at the state has cheated the common mass taking the helping hand of the CPI (M) and the political leaders of the state. Besides, it is also mentionable here that Chief Minister Manik Sarkar on his visit to one of the inauguration programme of the rose valley had shared a dais with the Rose valley Chief. Therefore to mention here, the faces behind the mask here in Tripura is all set to be revealed once the Rose Valley Chief Goutam Kundu gets arrested. And this might bring another bad day for the state govt. The then Finance Minister Badal Chowdhury recently on the ongoing assembly session said, "SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) had earlier banned the Kolkata-based Rose Valley from accepting deposits from the public. But Rose Valley had collected around Rs.200 crore from the people of the state and did not furnish required documents and accounts despite the state government's repeated notices."

According to the minister, Rose Valley has no license from SEBI or RBI (Reserve Bank of India) or any statutory authority to do financial transaction or to collect money from the people. However but, this has again marked Chief Minister Manik Sarkar’s alleged promise to the people of the state to invest their money to Rose valley. Besides, marking another bad day for Manik Sarkar, it is mentionable here that state science and technology minister Bijita Nath earlier was an agent of the Rose Valley group of company. Therefore it would be wise enough to mention here that the CBI raid here in Tripura might have lead the “Sarkar for poor” – Chief Minister Manik Sarkar to be in a long sprint to save his clean image.  

However, Minister Badal Chowdhury said Chief Minister Manik Sarkar wrote a letter to then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh demanding CBI probe against 24 chit fund groups operating in the State including Saradha, Rose Valley and Waris. Chowdhury, a former Finance Minister also said, “We had repeatedly informed the Central Government and put forward our demands that CBI should take up the cases against the chit funds and NBFCs because the State does not have enough laws to take action against NBFCs.” Therefore to comment here the letter to the center demanding a CBI probe on rose valley today brought an awful circumstances among the section of CPI (M) leaders here in Tripura. 

Soon after the collapse of the Saradha Group, hundreds of investors and agents committed suicide and lakhs of investors cheated. As the volume of funds collection by Rose Valley was six times more than the Saradha Group, the numbers of affected persons would be also be higher in the case of Rose valley.

Meanwhile, the ED has frozen 2,631 bank accounts of Rose Valley and the process of attaching landed property has also began. The Rose Valley Group is yet to furnish details of their other investments to the ED. In September, the ED officials sealed 2,631 bank accounts of Rose Valley on apprehension that Kundu could try to withdraw money from these accounts.