<div>The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on 23 October got custody of Sudipto Sen, chairman of Saradha Group and the main accused in a multi-crore chitfund scam, in connection with a money laundering case filed by it. The vacation Judge of City Sessions Court in Kolkata granted custody of Sen to the ED till 1 November.<br /><br />This is the first time that a central agency has taken custody of Sen, who had been arrested by Bidhannagar Police of West Bengal in April from Sonmarg in Jammu and Kashmir.<br /><br />A case of money laundering was registered before the court and a production warrant had been sought of Sen and his close associate Debjani Mukherjee in September.<br /><br />While the ED interrogated Mukherjee earlier, it could not get the custody of Sen so far owing to investigations by other agencies in connection with several cases lodged against him.<br /><br />The city sessions court, known as the Bankshall Court, granted the custody of Sen to ED for interrogation.<br /><br />A special money laundering court in New Delhi had on 21 October ordered freezing of bank accounts of Sen, to allow probe agencies complete investigations against the firm.<br /><br />Two banks' accounts were placed under attachment by the ED sometime back. The accounts, under Sen's name in a private bank in Odisha's Balasore, hold a total amount of Rs 27,752.80.<br /><br />The ED, which is investigating the case for alleged money laundering criminalities in the alleged chit fund scheme, suspects this to be "proceeds of crime" and wants these accounts to be kept frozen till the probe is complete.<br /><br />(PTI) </div>
