The Supreme Court has today ordered that the CBI will investigate the collapse of the Saradha Group, a privately-run savings company that left lakhs of small investors bankrupt in West Bengal.The judges said "the involvement of higher-ups including politicians and aspects of money laundering" mandate a CBI inquiry."The money trail needs to be traced, the conspiracy angle needs to be probed properly. Not much headway has been made so far," they added.The verdict is a setback for West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, whose party has been accused by opponents of close and unseemly links with the Saradha Group in the election season. Among those who have flagged the issue is the BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, provoking strong responses from Ms Banerjee and her party.Sudipta Sen, the chairman of the Saradha group, is in jail. So is Kunal Sen, a former parliamentarian from Ms Banerjee's party, who worked with the Saradha Group.The collapse a year ago of the giant Ponzi scheme, which offered massive returns of 40 percent and more, had triggered huge protests; three investors had committed suicide.A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment operation that pays out returns to investors based on inflows of money put in by other savers, and is liable to collapse if receipts dry up.Ms Banerjee had announced a Rs 500 crore fund to compensate investors and said that she would increase taxes on cigarettes by 10 percent to raise money.She also promised a new law to crack down on financial firms engaging in fraudulent practices.

The Saradha group, headquartered in Kolkata, was believed to have been worth around $ 330 crores from money collected from its depositors, according to some reports.The group had also diversified into sectors such as construction, tourism, hospitality, agriculture and media.