A Chit fund is a kind of savings scheme practiced in India. A Chit fund company means a company managing, conducting or supervising, as foremen, agent or in any other capacity, chits as defined in Section 2 of the Chit Funds Act, 1982. According to Section 2(b) of the Chit Fund Act, 1982, "Chit means a transaction whether called chit, chit fund, chitty, kuri or by any other name by or under which a person enters into an agreement with a specified of persons that every one of them shall subscribe a certain sum of money (or a certain quantity of grain instead) by way of periodical installments over a definite period and that each such subscriber shall, in his turn, as determined by lot or by auction or by tender or in such other manner as may be specified in the chit agreement, be entitled to the prize amount".
Such chit fund schemes may be conducted by organised financial institutions or may be unorganised schemes conducted between friends or relatives. There are also variations of chits where the savings are done for a specific purpose. Chit funds also played an important role in the financial development of people of south Indian state of Kerala, by providing easier access to credit. In Kerala, chitty (chit fund) is a common phenomenon practiced by all sections of the society. A company named Kerala State Financial Enterprise exists under the Kerala State Government, whose main business activity is the chitty.
Chit Funds are also misused by its promoters and there are many instances of the founders running what is basically a Ponzi scheme and absconding with their money.
Police have unearthed property worth Rs 750 crore so far by quizzing chit fund-aided Saradha Group's arrested promoter Sudipa Sen and his top aides, an official said Saturday. Six motorcycles with red beacons and hooters allegedly used by company's officials to carry cash were also seized.
The bikes were found in a garage of Saradha Group office, police sources said.
"We have so far unearthed assets valued at Rs 750 crores by grilling Sen," said Deputy Commissioner of Police Arnab Ghosh of Bidhannagar Commissionerate, which is probing what is being regarded as the biggest financial scam to rock West Bengal.
Meanwhile, police personnel from Joynagar in South 24 Parganas district interrogated Sen and his confidant Debjani Mukherjee in connection with a cheating case filed against them by some depositors.
The interrogators from the Bidhannagar Commissionerate were also grilling Sen and Mukherjee to ascertain the total value of the property of the Group companies and Sen.
"They are trying to find where the money has been stashed and how it can be recovered. They also need to find the employees who handled the money, and the relevant papers and other documents," said a source.
A couple of days back the sleuths had summoned for questioning a former official of the Reserve Bank of India who during his days with the apex bank is said to have given some undue facilities to Sen.
A police source said names of some officers of Securities and Exchange Board of India, Income Tax department, banks, and other central and state government agencies have cropped up following Sen's interrogation. "Some of them have already been questioned. We are tallying their replies with the information given by Sen".
Sleuths have also stumbled on 40 acres of land owned by Sen in Shimla.
Sen, Mukherjeee and another senior official of the Group were arrested April 23 from Sonmarg in Jammu and Kashmir, days after the Group collapsed, unable to repay lakhs of depositors - most of them poor people from villages and small towns - who had parked their hard earned money with its companies, lured by promise of huge returns.
Already, a number of and depositors of Saradha and similar chit fund companies have committed suicide, while offices of a large number of such dubious concerns operating in the state have been attacked.
Even on Saturday, an office of a chit fund company was ransacked by depositors at Pandabeshwar of Hooghly district for allegedly cheating and siphoning of funds.
Such chit fund schemes may be conducted by organised financial institutions or may be unorganised schemes conducted between friends or relatives. There are also variations of chits where the savings are done for a specific purpose. Chit funds also played an important role in the financial development of people of south Indian state of Kerala, by providing easier access to credit. In Kerala, chitty (chit fund) is a common phenomenon practiced by all sections of the society. A company named Kerala State Financial Enterprise exists under the Kerala State Government, whose main business activity is the chitty.
Chit Funds are also misused by its promoters and there are many instances of the founders running what is basically a Ponzi scheme and absconding with their money.
Police have unearthed property worth Rs 750 crore so far by quizzing chit fund-aided Saradha Group's arrested promoter Sudipa Sen and his top aides, an official said Saturday. Six motorcycles with red beacons and hooters allegedly used by company's officials to carry cash were also seized.
The bikes were found in a garage of Saradha Group office, police sources said.
Meanwhile, police personnel from Joynagar in South 24 Parganas district interrogated Sen and his confidant Debjani Mukherjee in connection with a cheating case filed against them by some depositors.
"They are trying to find where the money has been stashed and how it can be recovered. They also need to find the employees who handled the money, and the relevant papers and other documents," said a source.
A couple of days back the sleuths had summoned for questioning a former official of the Reserve Bank of India who during his days with the apex bank is said to have given some undue facilities to Sen.
A police source said names of some officers of Securities and Exchange Board of India, Income Tax department, banks, and other central and state government agencies have cropped up following Sen's interrogation. "Some of them have already been questioned. We are tallying their replies with the information given by Sen".
Sleuths have also stumbled on 40 acres of land owned by Sen in Shimla.
Sen, Mukherjeee and another senior official of the Group were arrested April 23 from Sonmarg in Jammu and Kashmir, days after the Group collapsed, unable to repay lakhs of depositors - most of them poor people from villages and small towns - who had parked their hard earned money with its companies, lured by promise of huge returns.
Already, a number of and depositors of Saradha and similar chit fund companies have committed suicide, while offices of a large number of such dubious concerns operating in the state have been attacked.
Even on Saturday, an office of a chit fund company was ransacked by depositors at Pandabeshwar of Hooghly district for allegedly cheating and siphoning of funds.
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