'Madam Rose Valley'

Pronab Mondal, TT, Calcutta, Jan. 30: Investigations into a haul of Rs 1.42 crore in demonetised notes from central Calcutta have apparently led police to a computer file named "Madam Rose Valley" and money allegedly parked by the wife of Rose Valley Group head Gautam Kundu.

The investigations have thrown up footage showing a person resembling an Enforcement Directorate officer with Subhra Kundu, the wife of Gautam who is now in jail custody, at what looked like a hotel reception.

The image resembles Manoj Kumar, a superintendent-rank ED officer who had briefed media on the progress of the Rose Valley deposit default case the central agency is now probing. Kumar is among the officers handling the investigations into the case.

The two have been found travelling together under the names of "Manoj Kumar" and "Subhra Dey" (her maiden name) and checking into a hotel together, sources said.

Subhra, who had acted in several films produced by Rose Valley, has not been formally questioned in connection with the deposit case while her husband has been in jail since March 2015.

Contacted by this newspaper, Subhra said she was not aware of any "company" called Madam Rose Valley. "Anyone can create a fictitious company by using my name," she said.

The line got disconnected after she was told about "evidence" showing she had travelled to Delhi together with the medal-winning ED officer and checked into the same hotel. Repeated attempts to contact her again proved futile.

Kumar's phone was busy initially and then it was switched off.

The cash haul on December 16 was till then the biggest in Calcutta since the demonetisation and it was initially believed to be a failed attempt at exchanging old notes. Calcutta police arrested Pradip Roy, 38, Sanjib Ghosh, 40, and Arun Singh, 55, when they were allegedly on their way to a chartered accountant's office on Mangoe Lane with Rs 1.42 crore.

The accountant allegedly managed several fictitious companies and bank accounts. In his office computer, the police are said to have stumbled on two folders titled "Rose Valley" and "Madam Rose Valley".

In the past six months, the Madam Rose Valley folder had allegedly received Rs 15 crore. Investigators claim Subhra had parked some of her funds with the CA on the advice of Kumar, the ED officer.

The "advice" by an officer of the central agency that is investigating deposit collection scams in Bengal came to light after Calcutta police submitted a report to the ED authorities mentioning the officer's proximity to Kundu's wife.

The report says the ED officer flew to Delhi on January 18 with Subhra and checked into a hotel, said ED sources.

Sources said the chartered accountant had told them that the money came from Subhra and he had created the folders to record the transaction details. The sources said the ED officer's name cropped up when the police grilled the CA on how he came to know Subhra.

The ED initiated a probe into the deposit controversy after the Securities and Exchange Board of India lodged a complaint against deposit mobilisation companies like Saradha and Rose Valley. The Rose Valley Group was alleged to have collected more than Rs 10,000 crore from depositors.