The Central Bureau of Investigation has alleged that Bengal Police was destroying vital evidence in Sharada and other chit fund cases.
In a written complaint filed in the Supreme Court the Agency has complained that some senior State police officers — who probed the multi-crore chit fund fraud until the Calcutta High Court and the Supreme Court handed over the case in 2014 to the CBI — had acted beyond their brief, connived with the accused persons and destroyed evidence.
Not only this, in an apparent act of intimidation the State Police even summoned the CBI officials handling the probe to share the details of investigations.
The CBI has also alleged that despite repeated reminders the State Police has failed to transfer to it the call details of two most powerful Sharada masterminds Sudipto Sen and Debjani Mukhejee. The investigation had hit a wall for the want of the stated call details between Sen and Mukherjee and the top politicians whose name had repeatedly appeared in the chit fund fraud.
It has also been alleged that a top IPS officer also got a subaltern official to summon the senior CBI officers in a separate case during which he was even asked to share probe details in the chit fund case. This happened after the CBI summoned the said senior officer for questioning.
The stated senior IPS officer — who led the Sharada probe before court gave it to the CBI — had chosen to look right through the repeated reminders of appearance by the Central agency, the complaint says.
Curiously the same officer was subsequently rewarded with priced postings for his favourable service rendered to his political masters and was currently heading a branch of the State Police, experts say.
It was only after repeated failure of the State Police to comply with the CBI directives that Central agency lodged the complaint with the Apex Court early last month sources said.
Bengal had been the hotbed of chit fund fraud since past one decade with a host of companies including Sharada, Rose Valley, Angel, Tower, Sumangal etc together allegedly doing a business in excess of Rs 50,000 crore.
After the name of State ruling party Trinamool Congress got entwined with the chit fund case following allegations of active destruction of evidence by the police the Opposition parties moved the judiciary following which the High Court and the Supreme Court directed the probe to be handed over to the CBI rejecting the State Government’s stubborn Opposition against the investigation taken off the police hand.