Alchemist Group faces trouble in Bengal; State police lens on KD Singh’s empire
KOLKATA: The sprawling business empire of KD Singh, the Chandigarh tycoon and a Trinamool Congress lawmaker to the Upper House, covers the entire West Bengal. Now, however, it is under the scanner of the state police after the Alchemist Group’s owner fell out with the Trinamool supremo, with probes revealing his role in a sting operation against party leaders.
The Alchemist Group, with business interests in finance, hatcheries, three Darjeeling tea gardens, properties, and processed chicken stores, now face several cases after Matthew Samuel, the chief executive of the media firm Narada, reportedly told the federal investigator that KD Singh had funded the sting operation against Trinamool leaders. Interestingly, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has written a number of letters in the past two years to the West Bengal government, requesting it to register cases against KD Singh’s finance business as investors approached the directorate after failing to register complaints of nonpayment with local police stations.
In the past few days, however, several complaints were registered by the Kolkata Police and the district police. The Kolkata Police has formed a special investigation team to probe the cases, while the state’s Directorate of Economic Offence (DEO) would also start probes into the cases lodged by investors against the group owned by the Trinamool’s only federal lawmaker who doesn’t live in West Bengal.
KD Singh first went to the Rajya Sabha as a candidate from Jharkhand, while for his second term, he was the Trinamool’s nominee from West Bengal. Apart from money collections, property, and food-retailing businesses, he owned three tea estates in Darjeeling. One of those had gone through severe labour unrest in 2015 over non-payment of provident fund dues, gratuity and wages, In mid-2016, the tea gardens were sold to another group whose owner is also said to be a close aide of KD Singh, said the industry sources.
“The group has resigned from our association. All the gardens are running now. However, there are complaints of wages being paid in an erratic manner,” said Sandeep Mukherjee, principal advisor, Darjeeling Tea Association (DTA). Several attempts to contact KD Singh proved futile. The Web sites of the Alchemist group of companies have also been pulled down.
The Alchemist Group, with business interests in finance, hatcheries, three Darjeeling tea gardens, properties, and processed chicken stores, now face several cases after Matthew Samuel, the chief executive of the media firm Narada, reportedly told the federal investigator that KD Singh had funded the sting operation against Trinamool leaders. Interestingly, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has written a number of letters in the past two years to the West Bengal government, requesting it to register cases against KD Singh’s finance business as investors approached the directorate after failing to register complaints of nonpayment with local police stations.
In the past few days, however, several complaints were registered by the Kolkata Police and the district police. The Kolkata Police has formed a special investigation team to probe the cases, while the state’s Directorate of Economic Offence (DEO) would also start probes into the cases lodged by investors against the group owned by the Trinamool’s only federal lawmaker who doesn’t live in West Bengal.
KD Singh first went to the Rajya Sabha as a candidate from Jharkhand, while for his second term, he was the Trinamool’s nominee from West Bengal. Apart from money collections, property, and food-retailing businesses, he owned three tea estates in Darjeeling. One of those had gone through severe labour unrest in 2015 over non-payment of provident fund dues, gratuity and wages, In mid-2016, the tea gardens were sold to another group whose owner is also said to be a close aide of KD Singh, said the industry sources.
“The group has resigned from our association. All the gardens are running now. However, there are complaints of wages being paid in an erratic manner,” said Sandeep Mukherjee, principal advisor, Darjeeling Tea Association (DTA). Several attempts to contact KD Singh proved futile. The Web sites of the Alchemist group of companies have also been pulled down.
