Saradha fiasco: Probe body rattled by piling up complaints

, May 14: Over 38,000

were submitted on Monday at the office of Shyamal Sen Commission, the body formed to investigate the recent

chit fund scam in

. At first, 34 counters were opened to take the complaints of those who were duped by the chit fund company but later their number was increased to 44.

Commission sources said nearly one-and-half lakh complaints have been submitted so far including 2,100 from northern Bengal, said a report published in Anandabaazar Patrika.

The commission personnel were having a tough time in clearing the mountain of complaint letters. The report said while 29,000 complaints were received last Friday, the number was over 22,500 the next day. Monday's figure was a record.

It has been more difficult for the agents for they can not submit more than 25 complaints in a day. They have hundreds of complaints from the investors and thus are revisiting the counters for days to submit the complaints.

Meanwhile, sources said the state government is set produce a document in the court with details of the investigation which is made into the Saradha scam by the state sleuths. According to some quarters, the government will do it to counter the demand to hand over the probe to the CBI. The hearing on whether the case will be handed over to the central investigative agency is on Tuesday.

Earlier, the arrested boss of the Saradha Group, Sudipta Sen, told the interrogators that he had wanted to sell off his media channels and newspapers as a last-ditch effort to save his business but couldn't do so because some state leaders opposed him.

He had said earlier that he had sought help from the political leaders to save his sinking empire but did not get any response. He decided to flee thereafter.

Trinamool Congress MP Kumal Ghosh, a journalist by profession who became the chief executive officer of the Saradha Media Group, said on Monday that he had met Sen when the media business of the Saradha Group was in a shambles and he met the boss to ensure that the employees were not robbed of their dues.

Chit fund film release stalled

Many theatres in Kolkata, including the famous Nandan, on Tuesday refused to screen Kagojer Nouka (paper boat), a film on chit funds and how they affect the lives of the common people. The film was released on Monday. Director of the film Partha Sarathi Joardar said the current situation in the state in the wake of the Saradha chit fund fiasco created more difficulty in releasing the film. He suspected political pressure to also have worked behind the decision to stall the screening of the film in several theatres.

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