Rose Valley scam: CBI arrests Mamata Banerjee's close aide, Shree Venkatesh Films owner Shrikant Mohta

Kolkata: Noted Bengali film producer and distributor Shrikant Mohta was on Thursday interrogated at his office in the city by CBI officials who then arrested him for involvement in the multi-crore Rose Valley chit fund scam, sources said. [caption id=“attachment_5955641” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Shrikant Mohta. Twitter/@SVFsocial[/caption] Mohta, the co-owner of Shree Venkatesh Films, was served a notice by the investigating agency regarding “acceptance of money from Rose Valley” and was questioned by the officials at his office located at a shopping mall in south Kolkata, they said. Later, he was taken to the CGO office complex of the CBI at Salt Lake for further interrogation. Mohta is believed to be close to West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee. “He (Mohta) had been called to join the investigation”, a CBI source said. The Enforcement Directorate is also probing the Rose Valley scam. Rose Valley chairman Gautam Kundu is in jail in a money laundering case. In 2017, Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha member Sudip Bandyopadhyay was arrested by the CBI on charges of alleged links with Kundu. Rose Valley Group has been accused of duping investors of Rs 17,000 crore in different states including Odisha and West Bengal.

 The CBI in its chargesheet against the ponzi scheme company in January last year had mentioned that the investors from Odisha alone had deposited Rs 450 crore with the Rose Valley Group.

Another TMC MP, Tapas Pal, had also been arrested for involvement in the scam.