May; It Rained Scams

SCAMS// In May it rained scams, as the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre grappled with the resignation of Railways Minister Pawan Bansal following allegations of corrupt practices by his close relatives and aides. Another minister to follow suit, was Ashwani Kumar, Law and Parliamentary Affairs, who came under CBI scanner for allegedly allocating mining rights inappropriately to private companies. Pawan Bansal’s nephew Vijay Singhla was also accused of accepting monetary aide from a suspended Railways Board member, Mahesh Kumar. According to sources, the decision to ask Bansal to resign came after the CBI received evidence of a meeting between Mahesh Kumar and Bansal on April 21, 2013. Also, allegedly, Kumar was made a Member (Electrical) in the Indian Railways Board though he was already a Signals Member. Bansal put in his papers on May 10, 2013. His resignation was welcomed by all political parties. He has been replaced by the Minister for Road Transport and Highways, C.P. Joshi. Ashwani Kumar, who had received the support of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh till the end, resigned minutes after Bansal. Kumar’s departure came after Congress supremo Sonia Gandhi met Manmohan Singh over the coal scam report. Earlier, Kumar had denied all allegations, stating, “My conscience remains clear. I believe I will stand vindicated.” Union Minister of Communications and IT, Kapil Sibal, has been given the charge of the Law Ministry. Yet another scam to rock the country was of the Saradha Chit Fund in West Bengal. Thanks to the scam, thousands took to the streets in the capital of West Bengal agitating against the Saradha Group Chit Fund Institution, after the virtual collapse of the company. Thousands had invested their lives’ savings in the company. The Saradha Group financial scandal was caused by the collapse of a Ponzi scheme run by the Saradha Group, a consortium of Indian companies believed to be running a wide variety of collective investment schemes known as chit funds. The group collapsed on April 2013, causing an estimated loss of nearly `200 billion. In the aftermath, the state government of West Bengal set up an inquiry commission to investigate the collapse. It also set up a fund of `5 billion to ensure that low income investors are not bankrupted as the collapse also led to a series of suicides among the investors. The main accused—Sudipto Sen, Chairman and MD of the group; and Debjani Mukopadhyay; Executive Director—were arrested in Kashmir on April 23, 2013. Mukhopadhyay’s sister claimed that Debjani was framed. “(Saradha chief) Sudipta Sen has framed her. She wanted to surrender before the police, but she was prevented from doing so. My sister is innocent,” said Mukherjee’s cousin Arpita, also an employee of the chit fund-funded group that has gone bust. Sen and Mukhopadhyay were arrested along with another company official. Political parties including the ruling Trinamool Congress were also allegedly involved in the scam. Following the collapse, more than a dozen agents and depositors of the Group, and related chit fund companies, took their lives.