Chit fund scam: Father of agent commits suicide, toll rises to 8

60-year-old father of chit fund agent committed suicide in Bengal`s North 24-Parganas distressed over son`s inability to repay money to investors, taking total suicides after Saradha Group bust to 8.

Barasat/Kolkata: The 60-year-old father of a chit fund company agent on Monday committed suicide in West Bengal`s North 24-Parganas district distressed over his son`s inability to repay money to investors, taking the number of suicides after the Saradha Group bust to eight. Jagadish Roy, father of Bidhan Roy who was the agent of Anex Chit Fund, was found hanging at his home at Rishi Bankim Gar colony at Sodepur in North 24-Parganas district this morning, the police said.

A few days ago Ranjit Pramanik who had invested heavily in the collapsed Saradha Group had committed suicide by consuming poison at Thakurchawk in the Joynagar area of South 24-Parganas district. On April 20, 50-year-old Urmila Pramanik, a resident of Baruipur in South 24 Parganas district, who had invested Rs 30,000 in the Saradah group, had set herself on fire. She succumbed to her injuries the next day in the Chittaranjan Hospital in Kolkata. Swapan Kumar Biswas (36), a money collection agent of the Saradha group who had deposited Rs four lakh from his personal savings in the scam-ridden company, was found hanging from the ceiling of his house at Balrampur in Purulia district on April 27. Three agents of the Saradha group also committed suicide at Mathurapur, Diamond Harbour and Falta in South 24-Parganas district after the company went bust. The unfolding chit fund scandal also drove the owner of such a company, a hotelier, to take his own life in South 24-Parganas district recently. PTI