The Kolkata High Court has directed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to investigate allegations that properties linked to the Vibgyor chit-fund company were sold or transferred despite court restrictions, while ordering steps to seize assets that have not yet been attached.
A division bench of Justices Rajarshi Bharadwaj and Sudip Deb issued the directions after hearing a case concerning the alleged illegal sale of Vibgyor properties. The matter came before the court on Tuesday, when the West Bengal government submitted a report based on a preliminary investigation by the Directorate of Economic Offences.
According to the report presented to the court, several properties held under the custody of a committee constituted by the High Court were transferred between 2021 and 2025 in violation of the applicable restrictions. The properties reportedly included assets in the Dooars region of north Bengal valued at around Rs 54 crore, as well as properties located in other parts of the state.
The state government sought additional time to submit a complete investigation report. The court has also directed the process to begin for seizing Vibgyor-linked properties that have not yet been confiscated.
Lawyers representing depositors, including Shubhashish Chakraborty and Arindam Das, told the court that properties were allegedly being moved into other entities and registered or sold despite the restrictions. The allegations raise questions about how assets under court-supervised custody were transferred and how such transactions were recorded and processed.
The court has directed the West Bengal government, the committee formed to oversee the assets and the ED to submit detailed reports at the next hearing. The next date has been fixed for November 26.
Vibgyor came under scrutiny during the period when allegations against the Saradha group brought wider attention to chit-fund operations in West Bengal. Complaints of alleged fraud against Vibgyor were reported from several parts of the state. Its owner, Raja Bhadra, was summoned multiple times by the Kolkata Police and was later arrested by a special team of the city police’s detective department at Delhi airport after he returned to India, according to the report.
Police sources cited in the report alleged that Vibgyor had collected nearly Rs 500 crore from the market by promising high returns. The company was reported to have invested in real estate and the film industry, using those investments while collecting money from customers over several years.
The latest proceedings focus on the status and movement of those assets. The court’s directions require the state government, the supervising committee and the ED to place their detailed reports on record on November 26.
