Saradha chief Sen held in J&K

Kolkata (PTI): Sudipto Sen, the chairman of Saradha group, the chitfund company which has allegedly defrauded thousands of depositors, has been detained from Sonmarg in Jammu & Kashmir along with two other company officials on Tuesday, a senior police official said.

"Three persons have been detained in Sonmarg area of Jammu and Kashmir. The police there have identified them as Sudipto Sen, Debjani Mukherjee and Arvind Singh Chauhan," Bidhannagar Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar told reporters here.

A Scorpio vehicle with a West Bengal number plate has also been seized, Kumar said. "Our team is there, after completing all necessary legal procedures they will be produced in court there and efforts will be made to bring them back," he said.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had earlier ordered Sen's arrest and said that he was hiding somewhere in North India.

Bengal Cabinet okays inquiryA

Kolkata (PTI): The West Bengal Cabinet on Tuesday gave its approval to the setting up of a high-level inquiry into the closure of chit fund company Saradha Group, which has left thousands of investors in the lurch, with a senior minister blaming the previous Left Front government for the mess.

"The lack of will on the part of the previous Left Front government to deal with the illegal chit funds has led to such a situation," Industry Minister Partha Chatterjee told reporters after a cabinet meeting presided over by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

The Chief Minister had on Monday announced a double-pronged probe by a special investigation team under the Director General of Police and an inquiry commission under Justice (retd) Shyamal Sen.

Cong poser

The Congress on Tuesday questioned the scope of the commission set up by the West Bengal government to probe the collapse of chit fund company Saradha Group.

"It seems to be another commission just like 40-50 others. There is no mention or information about its scope... We will not accept this commission unless we know its detailed scope and ambit," WBPCC chief Pradip Bhattacharya said at a protest rally here.

He also alleged there were attacks on Congress workers across the state after the mobbing of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.