Kolkata, Jan 30 : The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday stated that it had arrested Tanmoy Mirdha, an absconder accused in a multi-crore chit fund scam in West Bengal.

The central agency stated on Friday that the arrest on Thursday was made on the basis of a case registered by the CBI on June 23, 2020, following the direction of the Supreme Court for the investigation of chit fund-related cases in West Bengal and Odisha.

â??The accused, Director of M/s Express Cultivation Limited, Kolkata, along with others, allegedly cheated the public by fraudulently collecting about Rs 2.1 Crore on the pretext of investment and misappropriated the funds,â?? the CBI statement read.

According to the CBI, after completion of the probe, the Investigating Officer in the matter filed the chargesheet on February 4, 2022.

â??The accused did not join the investigation and was declared absconding. A warrant of arrest was issued against him by the Court of the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Kolkata. Based on sustained efforts including field verification and technical inputs, the accused was arrested on January 29, 2026 from Brahma Nagar, District Nadia, West Bengal,â?? the CBI statement read.

West Bengal has been in the news over the mushrooming of chit fund entities operating under the garb of multi-level marketing companies, alluring people to invest in their schemes, promising hefty returns.

All of them operate in the same manner, where investors receive initial instalments on returns regularly and thus are lured to invest more. However, after hefty investments were made, the instalments on returns stopped coming, and in most cases, the owners of such Ponzi entities were absconding.

The most talked about chit fund cases in West Bengal had been that of the Saradha Group and Rose Valley Group, which showed the involvement of several heavyweight Trinamool Congress leaders as the beneficiaries.

Several top-level Trinamool Congress legislators and MPs were netted by both CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for their involvement.

/IANS