The co-founder of SVF Entertainment Pvt Ltd has been accused of taking Rs24 crore from Gautam Kundu, the head of the chit fund company, who is currently serving a jail term.
Rose Valley scam: Shrikant Mohta sent to 14 days judicial custody for misappropriating Rs24 crore
Kolkata - 28 Jan 2019 19:00 IST
Roushni Sarkar
Shrikant Mohta, co-founder of SVF Entertainment Pvt Ltd, was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday for his possible involvement in the Rose Valley scam and was sent to judicial custody in Jharpada Special Jail for 14 days. Meanwhile, Mohta complained of chest pain and was admitted to the jail's hospital.
Mohta has been accused of taking Rs24 crore from Gautam Kundu, the head of the chit fund company, who is currently serving a jail term. Mohta will reportedly be produced in Bhubaneshwar court for the trial tomorrow, 29 January.
Mohta, very close to Trinamool Congress — the ruling party of West Bengal, was first detained in SVF’s office in south Kolkata by the CBI. The producer called up the local police reporting of some hooligans creating trouble at his place. However, the CBI soon made it clear that the operation was being entirely handled by them.
According to CBI sources, Mohta repeatedly ignored several summons by the CBI. He was later taken to the CBI office at Salt Lake, Kolkata and was arrested from there. He did not cooperate with the investigating team and refused to answer questions. Also, his statement did not match with that of the seized documents.
Mohta was last questioned by the CBI in August 2018. He has been accused of misappropriating Rs24 crore from the residents of Assam, Bengal, Odisha and elsewhere, and invested a part of the funds for buying paintings through his private film production company.
Often considered to be the most scandalous of all chit fund scams, the Rose Valley group allegedly took nearly Rs17,000 crore from its depositors. The amount involved is four times that embezzled in the Saradha Group financial scam. On 27 November 2014, the Enforment Directorate revealed that Rose Valley had bank balance worth Rs295 crore in 2,807 accounts across the country.
The entire Bengali film industry has come forward to show solidarity to the producer and the ruling party has also slammed the CBI, claiming it to be an extended party office of BJP.
