A Man Who Owns 1,000 Acres Land & 150 Cars Is On A Hunger Strike In Jail So He Can Get Access To His 3,078 Bank Accounts

Rose Valley Group's CMD Gautam Kundu has 700 acres spread across 12 states, 23 hotels, 150-odd cars, including a dozen imported luxury vehicles, 900 branch offices and 3,078 bank accounts, according to the Enforcement Directorate.

The emperor of Rose Valley

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According to records of the investigating agency, Kundu's empire is spread over West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, Assam, Punjab, Delhi, Rajasthan, MP, Tripura, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh. The directorate has started listing the landed properties and other assets of Kundu, but investigators claim that his assets could be much more. They claim that the quantum of land Kundu owns could be over 1,000 acres.

The Rose Valley Group of companies had raised Rs 15,400 crore in last few years, at least six times higher than what the now defunct Saradha group collected from people in Bengal, Bihar and Odisha. ED that is now investigating complaints against the group is learnt to have accessed the software and bank data of the company. The data revealed that the group only returned Rs 900 crore to investors on maturity. Yogesh Gupta, special director, ED, east confirmed to ET that ED has filed a chargesheet in the case and it is working on a supplementary one.

How Kundu's properties are distributed

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A glance at the list of Kundu's properties prepared by the directorate reveals that Kundu owns 15 acres in Assam, 10 acres in Madhya Pradesh, 110 acres in Tripura and around 100 acres in West Bengal. In Bengal, Kundu invested in East Midnapore, West Midnapore, Burdwan, Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri , Howrah,Bankura, North and South 24 Paraganas districts. In East Midnapore alone, he has 12 plots. The group had also claimed to have bought property in Kolkata, Port Blair, North Lakhimpur, Ranchi, Durgapur, Siliguri, Mondarmani, Lataguri, Falakata, Midnapore, Tarapith, Old Digha, Silchar, Haridwar, Goa, Gaya, Jaipur and New Delhi.

Some 23-odd hotels across the country includes luxury properties in Jaipur, Jalpaiguri, East Midnapore, Siliguri and Kolkata. It has seven premium residencies at the northern fringes of Kolkata; a 6,000 square feet villa in Ranchi and a gold and diamond jewellery mall. The group has 900 branches spread over West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, Assam, Punjab, Delhi and Andhra Pradesh.

A scam that shook India's politicians

The unearthing of the Rose Valley scam has caused maximum tremors in Trinamool Congress and the ruling parties in Assam and Odisha, the Congress and BJD, respectively. The ED arrested Gautam Kundu on March 25 by ED. The company is said to have links with many leaders of TMC, including a couple of cabinet ministers, and at least three MPs. Many Bollywood and Tollywood stars and men in power and position were also roped in by the company in various capacities. During investigation, it came to the fore that Kundu had held meetings with chief minister Mamata Banerjee in north Bengal in March 2012. Kundu termed it as 'a courtesy call.' He is also learnt have purchased some of paintings of Banerjee.

The group has 27 companies of which activities could be found in six companies, while all other companies were on paper, said the investigators. On the 1st of December, it was reported by the Times of India that Kundu dashed his head against iron bars of the court lockup in Jalpaiguri on Monday afternoon in frustration against alleged ill treatment by petty criminals lodged with him in jail.

He later launched into a hungerstrike demanding access to bank accounts that have been frozen so that he could repay the depositors. "The jail authorities are keeping me with thieves, dacoits and other criminals. Am I a criminal?" Kundu yelled from behind bars in the court room prison before dramatically dashing his head against the iron frame, leading to a cut in the forehead. The action drew people's attention to the ponzy firm owner who then claimed he would return the money to investors even if it required him to sell his blood.

Kundu was brought to Jalpaiguri in connection with a case lodged at Kotwali police station that is now being heard at the CJM's court. On October 12 this year, one Sunil Kumar Mazumdar of Jalpaiguri had lodged an FIR against Kundu alleging that Rose Valley had not returned Rs 2.6 lakh post his deposit's maturity .

Following the FIR, Kotwali PS had booked Kundu under section 419 and 420 of IPC.