Saradha scam: HC rejects bail plea of accused Sandhir Agarwal

Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court today rejected the bail prayer of Sandhir Agarwal, who was arrested by CBI for allegedly acting as a link between Saradha Group chairman Sudipta Sen and some officials of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).

A division bench comprising Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice S Munshi rejected the bail prayer of Agarwal, an accused in Saradha chit fund case. Agarwal, a businessman, prayed for bail on the plea that he was not involved in the matter and that he was falsely implicated.

The CBI counsel opposed the bail prayer alleging that Agarwal acted as a link between some officials of SEBI and Sen. The agency submitted that investigation was under progress and more information was to be gathered from Agarwal, so enlarging him on bail would hamper the probe. The Supreme Court had handed over the Saradha chit fund scam probe to CBI and asked the state governments to provide all logistical help to the agency’s team investigating the matter.

CBI has formed a Special Investigating Team (SIT) headed by Joint Director Rajiv Singh to also probe the role of some officials of SEBI and Reserve Bank of India as per the Supreme Court’s direction.

PTI