New Delhi, Dec 19 (IANS): The CBI filed a Supplementary Chargesheet against three accused in one of the Assam Ponzi Scam cases at a Special Court in Guwahati, an official said on Thursday.
The fresh set of charges were filed by the federal probe agency against Chabin Barman, Deepali Talukdar Barman and Mukesh Aggarwal, who all are in judicial custody in this case, said a statement.
Additional evidence against already chargesheeted accused Monalisha Das has also been filed with the supplementary chargesheet, it said.
The CBI had registered the case on October 14, 2024, on request of the government of Assam, taking over investigation of the case, originally registered by Police Station, Paltan Bazar, Assam on August 21, 2024 against DB Stock Consultancy, owned by Deepankar Barman, along with his close associate Monalisha Das, and 7-8 employees of the organization.
It was alleged that the accused persons had taken money from several clients by convincing them guaranteed returns and gave Rs 100 stamp paper in return as a proof.
Some of the clients who did not get regular payments over the past three months filed a complaint.
One of the complainants alleged that he invested Rs 1 crore and along with him several thousands of clients invested crores of rupees in the organisation, but the alleged accused person fled away alongwith amount invested by the clients.
Investigation has revealed that DB Stock Consultancy, proprietorship of Deepankar Barman, has been accepting deposits from the public on the promise of higher fixed returns on their deposits, the CBI said.
The proprietorship and its key managerial persons have been taking deposits in the name of five unregulated deposit schemes promising fixed higher returns. Deposits of more than Rs 400 crore have been taken by the said proprietorship of Deepankar Barman.
During further investigation, it was revealed that chargesheeted accused Monalisha Das acted in a criminal conspiracy with accused persons to cheat thousands of depositors by taking deposits under the pretext of high returns and then defaulting on the same.
Chabin Barman, along with his wife Deepali Talukdar Barman and son Deepankar Barman, conspired to promote the unregulated deposit scheme of DB Consultancy at a promotional programme in Guwahati.
Barman delivered a speech to solicit deposits into the scheme, and he, in collaboration with his son, ran the scheme for financial gain, receiving proceeds from DB Stock Consultancy and Deepankar's accounts.
Deepali Talukdar Barman, in association with her family, participated in promoting and running the unregulated deposit scheme, receiving proceeds from the scheme which she invested in real estate and other businesses for personal gain.
Mukesh Agarwal, a Chartered Accountant, conspired with Deepankar Barman to conceal the proceeds of the scheme in the firm’s accounts.
Following Deepankar's instructions, Agarwal fabricated fake invoices and adjusted the illicit funds as loans in the firm's books. He also created false financial documents, and manipulated IT and GST returns for Deepankar Barman, further aiding in the concealment of the proceeds from the unregulated deposit scheme.