POLITICALLY CONNECTED Company is said to have links with many leaders of TMC, including a couple of Cabinet ministers, and at least three MPs
Rose Valley Group’s CMD Gautam Kundu has 700 acres spread across 12 states, 23 hotels, 150-odd cars, including a dozen imported luxury vehicles, 900 branch offices and 3,078 bank accounts, according to the Enforcement Directorate.According to records of the investigating agency, Kundu’s empire is spread over West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, Assam, Punjab, Delhi, Rajasthan, MP , Tripura, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh. The directorate has started listing the landed properties and other assets of Kundu, but investigators claim that his assets could be much more. They claim that the quantum of land Kundu owns could be over 1,000 acres.

The Rose Valley Group of companies had raised `15,400 crore in last few years, at least six times higher than what the now defunct Saradha group collected from people in Bengal, Bihar and Odisha. ED that is now investigat ing complaints against the group is learnt to have accessed the software and bank data of the company. The data revealed that the group only returned `900 crore to investors on maturity . Yogesh Gupta, special director, ED, east confirmed to ET that ED has filed a chargesheet in the case and it is working on a supplementary one.

A glance at the list of Kundu’s prop erties 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. In Bengal, Kundu invested in East Midnapore, We s t M i d n a p o r e, B u r dw a n , Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Howrah,Bankura, North and South 24 Parag anas districts. In East Midnapore alone, he has 12 plots. The group had also claimed to have bought property in Kolkata, Port Blair, North Lakhimpur, Ranchi, Durgapur, Siliguri, Mondarmani, Lataguri, Falakata, Midnapore, Tarapith, Old Digha, Silchar, Haridwar, Goa, Gaya, Jaipur and New Delhi.

Some 23-odd hotels across the country includes luxury properties in Jaipur, Jalpaiguri, East Midnapore, Siliguri and Kolkata. It has seven premium residencies at the northern fringes of Kolkata; a 6,000 square feet 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 Rose Valley scam has caused maximum tremors in Trinamool Congress and the ruling parties in Assam and Odisha, the Congress and BJD, respectively . The ED arrested Gautam Kundu on March 25 by ED. The company is said to have links with many leaders of TMC, including a couple of cabinet ministers, and at least three MPs.

Many Bollywood and Tollywood stars and men in power and position were also roped in by the company in various capacities. During investigation, it came to the fore that Kundu had held meetings with chief minister Mamata Banerjee in north Bengal in March 2012. Kundu termed it as `a courtesy call.’ He is also learnt have purchased some of paintings of Banerjee.

The group has 27 companies of which activities could be found in six companies, while all other companies were on paper, said the investigators.

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