Saradha Group financial scandal

The Saradha Group financial scandal was a major political scandal caused by the collapse of a Ponzi scheme run by Saradha Group, a consortium of over 200 private companies that was believed to be running collective investment schemes popularly but incorrectly referred to as chit funds in Eastern India.

The group collected around ₹200 to 300 billion (US$4–6 billion) from over 1.7 million depositors before it collapsed in April 2013. In the aftermath of the scandal, the State Government of West Bengal where the Saradha Group and most of its investors were based instituted an inquiry commission to investigate the collapse. The State government also set up a fund of ₹5 billion (US$59 million) to ensure that low-income investors were not bankrupted.

The central government through the Income Tax Department and Enforcement Directorate launched a multi-agency probe to investigate the Saradha scam and similar Ponzi schemes. In May 2014, the Supreme Court of India, due to inter-state ramifications, possible international money laundering, serious regulatory failures and alleged political nexus, transferred all investigations into the Saradha scam and other Ponzi schemes to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), India's federal investigative agency. Many prominent personalities were arrested for their alleged involvement in the scam including two Members of Parliament (MP) - Kunal Ghosh and Srinjoy Bose from the Trinamool Congress, former West Bengal Director General of Police Rajat Majumdar, a top football club official Debabrata Sarkar, Sports and Transport minister in the Trinamool Congress government Madan Mitra.

The scam has often been compared to the Sanchayita investment scam, a multi crore rupees scam that occurred in West Bengal in the 1970s, complaints related to which led to the formation of the Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act of 1978.