-The Indian Express Kolkata: When the Saradha Group's Bengali daily Sakalbela began publication, Mamata Banerjee sent her best wishes. It was more than a customary greeting. It was an impassioned message that seemed to have come from the chief minister's heart. "We will have to pass the dark night to begin our journey in the light of dawn," she said. "An alert conscience, right direction, truth and fearless news is what people...

-The Indian Express Kolkata: Saradha Realty Ltd, which has gone bust now, may be just the beginning of the unfolding of a deeply entrenched Ponzi scheme network involving dozens of other companies in West Bengal, some of which also wield considerable media power given their ownership of television channels and newspapers. According to information available with the union corporate affairs and finance ministries, six companies, against whom market regulator Securities and Exchange...

-The Telegraph Kolkata: Chief minister Mamata Banerjee today flagged a four-member panel headed by a retired judge, a task force and an ordinance in her first comprehensive comments on the Saradha Group collapse that has triggered fears of a default contagion in Bengal. It was not clear if it was a stray remark or addressed at those seeking immediate relief for depositors but the chief minister also said that "ja gechhey ta...

-The Telegraph Guwahati: Gauhati High Court today said cases of fraud against dubious deposit collecting companies should be probed in a time-bound manner, while their victims' deposits should be refunded using the cash and properties of these firms seized by police. The court stated this during the first hearing of a suo motu PIL (15/2013) it had recently taken up against companies which collect huge deposits from the public by offering lucrative...

-Live Mint West Bengal chief minister dashes Saradha depositors' hopes of any immediate state-assisted recovery Kolkata: What has gone, has gone," West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee told depositors of the Saradha Group, dashing their hopes of any immediate state-assisted recovery of dues from the floundering units of the group that collected the money. Banerjee launched two separate investigations and promised to introduce a new law to deal firmly with fraudulent financial...