New Delhi (PTI): The CBI has filed an FIR against a small savings bank for allegedly swindling investment worth crores of rupees of more than 20,000 of its customers in West Bengal, officials said on Monday.
The central agency registered the case on Sunday, within days of the Calcutta High Court imposing a fine of Rs 5 lakh on the state Criminal Investigation Department (CID) for violating its order of not transferring the three-year-old case to the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
Quoting the First Information Report (FIR) filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the case, the officials said that the charge of the case was handed over to the agency by the CID on September 16 after fresh directions by the Calcutta High Court a day earlier. The directions included the imposing of the fine on the CID.
Earlier, on August 24, the high court's circuit bench at Jalpaiguri had directed the CBI to take over the probe into the case related to the management of the 'Alipurduar Mahila Rindan Samabay Samity' that is accused of swindling money deposited by its 21,163 customers.
The officials said the allegation, according to complainant Alok Roy, a resident of Surjyanagar, is that a small savings bank, formed on January 18, 2000, at Dhakeswari More employed a number of agents to collect money from people on the assurance to return the same as and when required.
It is further alleged that the bank authority, without following proper norms, illegally and maliciously issued a large number of loans to various people, and the depositors did not get back their money from the bank due to this malpractice, the officials said.
According to the complainant, this resulted in pecuniary loss of general depositors and also caused illegal pecuniary gain to some office bearers of the bank, they said.
The officials added it was also apprehended whether the bank has any proper license or permission from the appropriate authority to carry out such type of activity.
On September 15, the court took serious note of the CID for filing a recalling application and said the plea for recall is "absolutely frivolous" and tantamount to "playing with the court".
"CID has filed the recalling application. I do not know why. This shows that none of the papers and documents relating to investigation by CID has been handed over to CBI and ED. CID is playing with the court.
"The application has been affirmed by one officer of CID. Why CID is so much interested in not handing over the investigation to CBI and ED? Is CID apprehensive of something that will come to light which was guarded by CID from public gaze," the court had said.
According to the petitioners, the money deposited by 21,163 customers is not less than Rs 50 crores which has been given as loan to different borrowers. However, the names of such borrowers have not come to light even after the CID investigating the matter for nearly three years.
When transferring the probe to the CBI and the ED, the court had noted in its order of August 24: "The borrowers took the money and never returned it. Therefore, the said organisation could not return the money to its members including the petitioners when they needed. CID has not been able to bring out any substantial fact related to this matter though they have investigated the matter for nearly three years."
The high court while rejecting the plea had also directed the CBI and the ED to commence their investigation into the matter within three days.
"I direct CBI and ED to start the investigation by three days from date if not done already and I direct the CID to hand over all papers and documents to CBI and ED by September 18, 2023," it had said.
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Bengaluru, Feb 8 (PTI): The Metro rail ride in Bengaluru will be costlier by about 50 per cent as the Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) on Saturday effected a hike on the recommendation of the Fare Fixation Committee, which will come into force from Sunday onwards.
According to the BMRCL's press release, it has also introduced separate tariffs for peak and non-peak hours just like the hail taxi riders - Ola and Uber.
The maximum fare has been enhanced from Rs 60 to Rs 90 and the minimum balance has been increased from Rs 50 to Rs 90.
The fare for a travel between 0-2 kilometres will be Rs 10, 2 km to 4 km - Rs 20, 4 km to 6 km - Rs 30, 6 km to 8 km - Rs 40, 8 km to 10 km - Rs 50, 10 km to 12 km - Rs 60, 15 km to 20 km - Rs 70, 20 km to 25 km - Rs 80, 25 km to 30 km and above would be Rs 90.
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"The Fare Fixation Committee submitted its report recommending the revised fare structure on December 16, 2024. As per section 37 of the Metro Railway O&M Act, the recommendations made by the Fare Fixation Committee shall be binding on the Metro Railway Administration," BMRCL said.
Accordingly, with the due approval of BMRCL Board, the revised fare structure will come into effect from February 9, 2025.
Regarding the peak hour tariff system, the BMRCL said it will offer an additional five per cent discount on Smart cards at the rate of five per cent during peak hour along with five per cent off peak hour, which will be an effective 10 per cent for travel during off-peak hour based on the time of entry into the Metro system.
The non peak hours will resume from the time the Metro services start in the day up to 8 am, again from noon to 4 pm and 9 pm to closing hours on week days.
The Metro Rail authorities also said that there will be a discount offer on smart cards at the rate of 10 per cent on all Sundays and national holidays.
The hike comes close on the heels of 15 per cent hike in government bus fare in Karnataka.
Last month, Bengaluru Central MP, P C Mohan had posted on 'X' that the proposed hike in metro fare has been put on hold.
"BMRCL’s proposed 45% metro fare hike, set for Feb 1, has been put on hold. The Modi government has directed BMRCL to submit a comprehensive report before making any decision. A big win for the people of Bengaluru—ensuring transparency, accountability, and fair metro pricing," he said on 'X'.
Namma metro Fare Update :As per the Fare Fixation Committee’s recommendations, the revised fare structure takes effect from 9th Feb 2025. 5% discount on Smart Cards continues. Check the media release for details. pic.twitter.com/oEgv0kbcOZ
— ನಮ್ಮ ಮೆಟ್ರೋ (@OfficialBMRCL) February 8, 2025