KOLKATA: Rose Valley boss Gautam Kundu was arrested on Wednesday by Enforcement Directorate on charges of money laundering and not providing documents sought by the agency. ED officials say they will submit the chargesheet against him in a week.

This is the biggest non-Saradha arrest in the investigation into Ponzi firms in Bengal. In fact, Rose Valley is alleged to have mopped up Rs 15,000 crore from the public through collective investment schemes — almost six times as much as the Saradha scam.

ED officials said they booked Kundu under Section 17 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act after interrogating him for two hours. He will be produced in a special court on Thursday.

ED, which started a case against Rose Valley on the basis of a Sebi complaint, has been asking Kundu to submit certain documents. “But Kundu evaded it and never gave any clarification about the money raised by him. He was non-cooperative,” said an ED officer, adding: “We have been working on the case for quite some time and are hopeful of filing the chargesheet within a week.”

According to ED sources, Rose Valley started running Ponzi schemes in the 1990s. Two of its group companies-— Rose Valley Resorts and Plantation — started raising funds from the public in 1997 through various plantation schemes but the company sought Sebi permission only in 1999. Although its application was turned down, it allegedly continued to raise money from the public. In 2011, Sebi barred Rose Valley again from raising money from the public.

ED cracked down on Rose Valley in May 2014 based on a Sebi complaint against alleged collective investment schemes run by Rose Valley Real Estate and Constructions Ltd. According to Sebi, the firm collected thousands of crores through a scheme called Ashirvad. The market watchdog then barred Rose Valley from raising money from investors.

2300 Rose Valley accounts frozen

In October 2014, Rose Valley investors filed two FIRs against the company, complaining that they did not get back their money after maturity.

One of the complainants said he had invested Rs 4.5 lakh with Rose Valley Industries against a promised interest of 18%, but did not get back either the principal or the interest. In a statement in Rajya Sabha in February this year, Union minister of state for finance Jayant Sinha said that Rose Valley had mobilized Rs 10,281 crore from the public.

According to ED sources, as many as 2,300 Rose Valley accounts with 30-odd banks have been frozen and cash worth Rs 300 crore attached.

ED officials were surprised to find that these 2,300 accounts belonged to 27 companies, of which only five were active and had regular transactions.

CBI had conducted raids at 43 Rose Valley establishments across 11 states early this month. It searched the residences of four persons, including Lok Sabha MP Tapas Pal.