Sebi To Auction Saradha Group Properties To Recover Investors’ Money

Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) will be conducting an e-auction of 61 properties of Saradha Group to recover investors’ money. The auction will be conducted on 17 July through an agency by the market regulator. 

According to information, Sebi has put 61 vacant plots belonging to Saradha Group of Companies on the block, for recovering money lost by lakhs of depositors in one of the biggest financial frauds ever to take place in Bengal.

The online auction will take place on 17 July. The cumulative reserve price of the plots are about Rs 25 crore. The sale process is being initiated by an order of the Calcutta High Court passed on 27 June, 2022.

SEBI in a public notice informed "The Hon'ble Justice S. P. Talukdar one man committee has directed Securities and Exchange Board of India to proceed with auction of properties of Saradha Group of Companies. Accordingly, Quikr Realty Ltd has been engaged by SEBI to assist it in sale of the properties mentioned herein on "as is where is and whatever there is" basis." 

As per the reports, all the 61 plots are located in Bengal and spread across places such as Bishnupur, Baruipur of South 24 Parganas, Contai in East Midnapur among others.

It may be recalled that a one man committee under justice (retd) Sailendra Prasad Talukdar was formed by Calcutta HC in 2015 with the object to give relief to deprived investors and save lot of judicial hours, for implementing a process to create a corpus fund by selling properties, both movable and immovable, of the chit fund companies and its' directors by public auction and frame a proper scheme for paying the amounts due to the investors.

The committee, which is in the process of recovering money by selling properties of various deposit mobilising companies (chit funds companies), including Saradha, MPS Group of Companies, Alchemist, among others, has been instructed to provide all necessary assistance to the state and other agencies, including the companies.

As on 23 September, 2022, Sebi has deposited Rs 1.23 crore in the bank account opened by the committee in respect of Saradha Group of Companies.

The 27 June, 2022 order passed by Justice I. P. Mukerji and Subhendu Samanta said the sale will have to be approved by this committee. "The committee shall have the power to order re-advertisement or re-auction by SEBI or any other organisation if the circumstances so warrant. The offer accepted by the committee shall be placed before this court for confirmation and thereafter the same will become final."