Kolkata, Aug 25 West Bengal is set to witness yet another probe which will involve both the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) over allegations of money laundering by a cash-lending cooperative society.
On Friday morning, the Calcutta High Court's Jalpaiguri Circuit Bench assed the order directing the central agencies to initiate the probe.
The order was based on a petition filed by one Kalpana Das Sarkar at the circuit bench, alleging that the cooperative society first collected huge amounts of deposits from the market from investors and then distributed the money as loans to those associated with it.
Despite not returning the loan even after the lapse of substantial time, no action was initiated against them by the cooperative society authorities for loan recovery.
The matter was referred to investigation by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of West Bengal Police but could not make any progress in the probe process.
Hence the petitioner approached the circuit bench demanding a central agency probe in the case.
The circuit bench observed that as per initial calculation, there was a defulcation of an amount over Rs 50 crore duping as many as 21,163 investors depositing their hard-earned money to that cooperative society.
Observing that this was a clear case of money laundering, the circuit bench ordered a probe by the two central agencies.
The circuit bench also ordered the ED and CBI to submit two separate progress reports by October 12.
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