DEO arrests director of chit fund group

Directorate of Economic Offences (DEO) on Friday arrested the director of a chit fund group Equinox Infratech, Prasanto Chakraborty, from a hotel at Esplanade on S N Banerjee Road.

This is the first arrest made by the DEO after the West Bengal Protection of Interest of Depositors in Financial Establishments Act came into force.

With the act coming into effect, the DEO can attach properties of the chit fund group and of its owners to give back the investors' money by selling out the same. It may be mentioned that the Mamata Banerjee government had taken the initiative to introduce the Bill to save those who invest all their savings and get trapped in such ponzi schemes.

Acting on a tip off, officers of the DEO conducted a raid at the hotel and arrested Prasanto. He had been at large for the past few months. His son Pratik was arrested from Jagatdal in North 24-Parganas earlier on similar charges of cheating people after taking money assuring high returns. Pratik is in judicial custody at present.

Preliminary investigations revealed that Equinox Infratech collected around Rs 150 crore through chit fund schemes from different states including Bengal, Karnataka, Jharkhand and Maharashtra.

The complaint against the group was lodged with Jagatdal police station on February 15. Subsequently, the local police had arrested Pratik and later the case was taken up by the DEO. Cases against other chit fund companies including Icore Jewellery, Rishita Fisheries, Alchemist Group and Rose Valley Group have been taken up by the DEO also. The case against Alchemist group was lodged with Garfa police station on January 1 and the complaint against the Rose Valley Group was lodged with Mogra police station in Hooghly on February 15.

It may be mentioned that the Kolkata Police have also initiated a probe against the Alchemist group, owned by K D Singh, following a complaint lodged by some investors with Bowbazar police station.