Case 20 · Consumer harm

Saradha. Small savers cleaned out, and politicians in the frame

Surfaced Apr 2013

Depositors ruined. Investigation still crawling.

4,862 days since Nobody has been held to account.

Human cost Est

Hundreds of thousands of small depositors across eastern India, many of them very poor; suicides were reported among agents and investors

Financial cost Est

A collapse put at over ₹10,000 crore across West Bengal, Odisha and Assam

What happened

The Saradha Group collected deposits from hundreds of thousands of small savers across eastern India through a web of companies, and collapsed in April 2013. The Supreme Court ordered a CBI investigation in 2014 after the initial probe indicated the involvement of politicians across three states.

Claim against record

What the government said

The state government said it had set up its own commission and a compensation fund for depositors, and characterised the central investigation as politically motivated.

What the record shows

Depositors ruined. Investigation still crawling.

The investigation became a jurisdictional fight between the central agency and the state government, culminating in a police commissioner being questioned over destroyed evidence and the state refusing cooperation. More than a decade on, senior political figures named early have not been tried, and depositors have recovered a fraction of what they lost.

Contested / alleged

Political protection is alleged and, in the case of most figures named, untested in court. The collapse and the losses are not in dispute.

What accountability should have looked like

A regulator that acts when unregistered deposit-taking reaches lakhs of people, and an investigation not paralysed by which government is running it.

Ministers and office-holders responsible

Regulation of deposit-taking; accused of obstructing the CBIWest Bengal state government
Collective investment regulation; acted years after the schemes beganSecurities and Exchange Board of India

Naming who held the portfolio is a matter of public record. It is not by itself a finding of personal responsibility for any death or any rupee.

Sources

T1 primary record · T2 reporting · T3 partisan

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Cite or export this case

Citizens' Accountability Ledger, "Saradha. Small savers cleaned out, and politicians in the frame" (Surfaced Apr 2013), case-82. https://whoisresponsible.xyz/case/case-82/

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