Rose Valley Group’s Chairman and Managing Director (CMD), Gautam Kundu, has a total of 700 acres of land spread of across 12 states, 23 hotels, 150 or so cars – including a dozen imported luxury vehicles – and 900 branch offices and 3,078 bank accounts and he has been declared a fraudster.
Kundu’s empire is nation-wide. It spreads over West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, Assam, Punjab, Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Tripura, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh.
Accrding to media reports, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has started listing Kundu’s landed properties and other assets, but investigators believe that his assets could be much more. They claim that the measure of land he owns could be over 1,000 acres.
The Rose Valley Group has raised 15,400 crores in the last few years, which is said to be at least six times higher than what the now inoperative Saradha group collected from people in Bengal, Bihar and Odisha
ED is now investigating complaints against the group and it has been learnt that the directorate have accessed the software and bank data of the company. The data revealed that out of the 15,400 crore invested, only 900 crore was returned to the investors upon maturity. Yogesh Gupta, special director in ED, confirmed to Economic Times that they have filed a charge-sheet in the case and they are working on a supplementary one.
A glance at the list of Kundu’s properties, prepared by the directorate, reveals that Kundu owns 15 acres in Assam, 10 acres in Madhya Pradesh, 110 acres in Tripura and around 100 acres in West Bengal. Some 23-odd hotels across the country includes luxury properties in Jaipur, Jalpaiguri, East Midnapore, Siliguri and Kolkata. It has seven premium residences at the northern fringes of Kolkata, a 6,000-square-foot villa in Ranchi and a gold-and-diamond jewellery mall. The group has 900 branches spread over West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, Assam, Punjab, Delhi and Andhra Pradesh.
The unearthing of the scam has caused a vast amount of problems in Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the ruling parties in Assam and Odisha, the Congress and BJD, respectively. The ED arrested Gautam Kundu on March 25. The company is said to have links with many leaders of TMC, including a couple of cabinet ministers and at least three Members of Pariliament (MP).
Many Bollywood stars, Tollywood stars and high-positioned, powerful men were also roped in by the company in various capacities. During investigation, it came forward that Kundu also held meetings with Bengal’s chief minister, Mamata Banerjee, in 2012.
The group has 27 companies; activities were found in six companies and other companies were on paper.
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