The string of probes conducted immediately after the demonetisation move to smoke out black money made through suspicious transactions saw the highest number of such fraudulent practices being recorded from Eastern India, according to sources in the finance ministry.The Enforcement Directorate initiated 437 inquiries in Bengal and registered 24 criminal cases involving at least 500 companies and small businesses, the sources said. While Assam and Odisha also recorded similar cases, Bengal seems to have recorded the highest number. The central agency has seized unaccounted assets in form of black money worth Rs 152 crore from these states.Bengal Jan Dhan accounts saw some of the highest deposits after demonetisation. The sources added that central agencies conducted investigations into 290 instances in which very high amounts of cash were deposited into Jan Dhan accounts in Bengal.The Enforcement Directorate has attached property worth Rs 100 crore in Kolkata, Rs 43 crore in Guwahati and Rs 9 crore in Bhubaneswar during the course of investigation against black money. Eastern India appears to have recorded a very high number of shell companies and unaccounted cash transactions during the said period.The directorate is currently conducting a probe into 46 accounts, mostly of nationalised banks, for high cash deposits made by some businessmen and politicians. In at least three cases, cash deposits were transferred through the government’s Prandhan Mantri Gram Yojana schemes.Inquiries were initiated into the accounts of 77 companies, which, during the course of investigation, appeared to be shell companies.Chief minister Mamata Banerjee has been one of the vehement critics of the demonetisation process, calling the whole move a “scam”. Banerjee had called for a “black day” on Wednesday, launching state-wide protests and a campaign on social networking sites.Her state had also witnessed the maximum number of cases of chit fund companies earlier. The CBI had received complaints against 464 chit fund companies located in the eastern states, mainly from Bengal.In a statement, the CBI said that the agency has registered 77 cases and initiated 7 preliminary inquiries post demonetisation relating to exchange of demonetised currency in various departments and agencies including banks, post offices, railways, insurance companies etc. The amount involved in these cases was around Rs 395.19 crore. CBI had acted on more than 500 references received from the public and other agencies.CBI has so far arrested 21 public servants and 26 private persons out of the 307 accused found to be involved in these cases. Chargesheets have been filed in 12 cases and regular department action has been recommended in a few cases.