Saradha scam: CBI arrests Sudipta Sen’s close aide Arindam Das

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“The arrested accused was one of the close associates of Saradha group CMD and was instrumental in expanding the alleged illegal deposit collection business of the group in the South-24 Parganas and other districts of West Bengal. He used to look after all the deposit collection in the areas under his control,” CBI spokesperson Kanchan Prasad said in Delhi.

Prasad said Das was also named in a number of FIRs registered in connection with the alleged chitfund scam at Baruipur, Sonarpur, Canning, Arambagh, Dubrajpur, Srirampur, Chanditala, Chandannagore, Durgapur and other police stations of West Bengal.

“In hiding since August last year, he kept changing his place of stay to evade arrest. Considering his vital role in this mega scam, the SIT of CBI was constantly making efforts to trace him,” the spokesperson said, adding the CBI team nabbed Das from Sealdah station when he was returning from Kurseong after meeting his daughter who studies there.

Starting his career as an agent of a chit fund company at Baruipur in South-24 Paraganas, Das had joined Saradha in 2010 and rose to the highest rank in the district fast.

Believed to be one of the main conspirators of the scam, he was in charge of 54 offices of Saradha in the district. During investigation, it came to fore that Das had created a software through which he issued thousands of fake certificates in the name of the Saradha group and continued accepting deposits from the investors. Duping lakhs of investors in the district, he siphoned off around Rs 100 crore over three years, CBO sources said.

CBI sources said Das lived a life of luxury and owns half dozen houses and flats. The investigators claim that he had ACs installed in every part of his palatial house,  including in the toilets. Like Sen, he, too, is said to have owned a fleet of cars, which were later confiscated by the investigating agencies.

In May, 2013, the SIT formed by the Bengal government to investigate into Saradha scam issued a look out notice for Das, who held the post of a senior manager in the company.

He was absconding since after the arrest of Sen a month earlier.

Sen and one of the directors of the firm, Debjani Mukherjee, have reportedly told the investigators that Das was trying to overtake the entire company and had also opened a branch office in Tripura without any approval from the Saradha CMD. They have alleged that Das issued several fake certificates and created fake policies in the area. According to the local agents, Das had a “cordial relationship” with senior police officials in the district.

Apart from the charges of cheating and money laundering, Das also faces the charge of abetment to suicide following a police complaint filed by Bhola Pramanik, whose mother Urmila, a resident of Baruipur, died after setting herself ablaze. She had deposited Rs 50,000 with the group.