Rose valley chit fund probe: Investigating officer removed over alleged links with wife of prime accused

In a sensational twist to the multi-crore Rose valley chit fund scam case, the Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday removed Manoj Kumar, the investigating officer (IO) of the case, for his alleged "links" with the wife of prime accused Gautam Kundu.

This comes after a CCTV footage (India Today cannot vouch its authenticity) surfaced showing Kumar at the Kolkata airport and at a hotel lobby in Delhi along with Subhra Kundu, Gautam Kundu's wife. A grab from the CCTV footage can be seen above. As an assistant director with the ED in eastern region, Kumar has been supervising the Rose Valley chit-fund scam investigations for over a year now.

LINKS EMERGED FROM DIFFERENT CASE

Kumar's alleged proximity to Subhra Kundu came under the Kolkata police's scanner during investigations in a completely separate case. In December last year, Kolkata police had stumbled upon a huge cache of demonetised currency notes while conducting raids at the office of a private chartered accountancy firm in central Kolkata.

During the raids, police reportedly recovered files named "Rose Valley" and "Mrs Rose Valley" from one of the computers at the firm. Following this, the police began monitoring the activities of Mrs Kundu. It was during this investigation that police became aware of Kumar's alleged links with Gautam Kundu's estranged wife. In fact, it is alleged that Mrs Kundu had siphoned at least Rs 15 crore using fictitious accounts with the help of the firm on the advice of the ED officer.

Also read: Rose Valley chit fund scam: No one should not be spared, says Kunal Ghosh

SUBHRA KUNDU TO BE QUESTIONED

According to Kolkata police, Mr Kumar had had travelled to New Delhi on January 18 with Mrs Kundu and both had checked into a hotel in Sundar Nagar area and had even shared the same room. Following the revelations, the Kolkata police is preparing to summon Subhra Kundu to its Lal Bazar headquarters for questioning in the next 48 hours, informed Supratim Sarkar, Joint Commissioner (Headquarters).

KUMAR: IT'S A CONSPIRACY

The ED has ordered a probe into the matter after the Kolkata police intimated the central agency about Manoj Kumar's proximity to Rose Valley chief's wife. However, Kumar has defended himself alleging that he was a victim of a larger conspiracy to "eject" him out of the case.

"I went (to Delhi) alone. I was visiting Delhi on an official trip while she (Subhra Kundu) had gone on her own," the ED officer claimed. "It is a larger conspiracy to eject me out of the case...I have already offered my cases to be scrutinised by any officers of the ED," he said adding that Subhra Kundu had been living separately from her husband since October.

"She had been a great help to the investigations and with this help I was able to attach property worth Rs 16,000 crores. Investigation done by me in Rose Valley case has been appreciated by the courts," Kumar said.

Also read: Rose Valley chit fund scam: Trinamool Congress MP Tapas Pal claims innocence

(With inputs from Arindam)