Another chit fund operation exposed in Siliguri

PRASHANT ACHARYA, EOI, Siliguri, 13 Sep 2014: Even as raised temperatures regarding the Saradha and Basil chit fund scams are yet to cool down, another company named Suraksha Farming & Industry Ltd has found itself dragged into the raging controversy. Its office in Siliguri has been locked up since last month leaving nearly 4,000 agents and investors in the lurch.

Investors and the agents today called a press conference at the Siliguri Journalists’ Club where they revealed how the managing directors of the company had duped them. One agent cum investor named Archana Singh alleged Suraksha Farming & Industry Ltd CMD Bam Shankar Maharaj and his associates Nikhil Chakraborty and Amardeep Bhagat are roaming around freely in Siliguri and have not been arrested despite FIRs being lodged against the trio.

Archana said the company’s office at Burdawan Road was established in 2010 and its promoters had promised investors of seeing their deposits doubling in five years’ time apart from promising a host of lucrative offers.

Rajesh Sharma, the advocate for the agents, said an FIR was filed in November 2013 by an investor named Chitra Mondal and while another complaint was lodged with the Siliguri police station on Friday, September 12. Sharma said the police have failed to arrest the accused and have not seized their bank accounts either. According to the advocate, company agents from Siliguri and its environs alone have deposited Rs7 crore.

A distraught agent named Mallika Sarkar of Samar Nagar said she has collected and deposited Rs7 lakh from investors and now she is unable to stay in peace given the regular harassment by the frustrated investors.