HIGH COURT OF TRIPURA AGARTALA WP (Crl) No.3 of 2014 1. Smt. Dipti Das Majumder. W/o-Sri Arjun Chandra Majumder, Resident of Office lane, ,Koylarmath, P.O and P.S R.K Pur, District:- Gomati Tripura. 2. Sri Anup Kumar Saha, S/O Lt. Amiya Bhusan Saha, Central Road, Udaipur, P.O & P.S R.K Pur, District - Gomati Tripura ……….Petitioners 3.Sri Gopendra Sharma, S/O Late Gopal Sharma, Resident of Village-Kulai, Thakurpalli, P.S. Ambassa, District Dhalai Tripura, Pin-799204 (Added as per order dated 26.07.2017 in I.A. No. 1 of 2017) …….Petitioner-Intervener VERSUS 1. The State Of Tripura, Represented by the Chief Secretary, Government of Tripura, having its office at State Secretariat, Capital Complex, Agartala, and West Tripura- 799006. 2. The Secretary, Department Of Home, Government of Tripura having its office at State Secretariat, Capital Complex, Agartala, West Tripura-799006 3. Director General Of Police, Government of Tripura, Police Headquarter, Akahura Road, Agartala, District:-West Tripura, 799001. 4. Director Small Savings, Group Insurance & Institutional Finance, Government of Tripura, Agartala, District: - West Tripura, 799001. 5.Inspector, Small Savings, Group Insurance & Institutional Finance, Sadar, West Tripura, 799001. 6. Union Of India, Service through the Secretary, Government of India, Ministry of Rural Development, having its office at Krishi Bhavan, Dr. Rajendra Prasad Road, New Delhi-110 001. 7. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), having its office at Plot NO. 5-B, CGO Complex, Lodhi Road., New Delhi-110003. 8. The Collector, West Tripura District, Government of Tripura, Agartala, PO Agartala, 799001, District:- West Tripura 9. The Director of Institutional Finance. 10. The Secretary, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pension, DoPT, North Block, New Delhi –I. 11. Unique Identification Authority of India, Represented by Director, Regional office Block-V, 1st Floor House fed complex, Dispur, Gauhati. …………..Respondent(s) For the Petitioner(s) : Mr. P. Roy Barman, Sr. Advocate. Mr. S. Bhattacharjee, Advocate. Mr. K Nath, Advocate. Ms. A. Banik, Advocate. Ms. M. Choudhury, Advocate. For the Respondent(s) : Mr. SM Chakraborty, Adv. General. Mr. B. Majumder, Dy. SGI. Mr. T. D. Majumder. Sr. Advocate. Mr. Kohinoor N. Bhattacharrya, G.A. Mr. R. Datta, P.P. Mr. R.C Debnath, Advocate. Ms. P. Chakraborty, Advocate. Date of hearing : 03.09.2025 Date of delivery of Judgment & Order : 03.09. 2025. Whether fit for reporting : Yes. HON’BLE JUSTICE DR. T. AMARNATH GOUD HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE BISWAJIT PALIT J U D G M E N T & O R D E R [Dr. T. Amarnath Goud, J] [1] Heard Mr. P. Roy Barman, learned Amicus Curiae assisted by Mr. S. Bhattacharjee, learned Amicus Curiae appearing for the petitioners. Also heard Mr. SM Chakraborty, learned Advocate General assisted by Ms. P. Chakraborty, learned counsel appearing for the respondents-State. Mr. B. Majumder, learned Dy. SGI also present representing the respondent –CBI. Page 3 of 9 [2] This present petition has been filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India seeking the following reliefs :- “It is, therefore, humbly prayed that Your Lordships would graciously be pleased to issue Rule upon the Respondents to show cause as to why the Respondents should not transmit all records relating to the case of the Petitioner AND As to why a Writ in the nature of mandamus not be issued for directing investigation of West Agartala PS Case No.171/2013 dated 13.06.2013 under Sections 420/406/34 of IPC registered as PRC 596/2013 by The Central Bureau of Investigation and directing such other actions so as to give justice to the petitioners And As to why such other order/orders should not be passed so as to give full relief to the Petitioners and, upon causes shown, to make the Rule absolute.” [3] The brief fact of the case is that the petitioners like many others invested money in the Non- Banking Financial Company under term deposit schemes of the said companies. The Company illegally and fraudulently collected huge money from depositors and cheated the depositors and defaulted the payments. Complaints are registered in West Agartala PS Case No.171/2013 under Section 420/406/34 of IPC and Section 3 of The Tripura Protection of interest of depositors (Financial Establishment) Act.2000 against the Directors of the various Company at the instance of the State respondents. The hard earned money of the depositors remained un-recovered and un- distributed. [4] Aggrieved thereby, the petitioners herein approached this Court for passing necessary orders/ directions. [5] Both sides submits before this Court that the Scheme “ Depositors Protection and sale proceeds of NBFCS disbursement Scheme, 2025” has been framed, so according to the petitioners State should initiate process of distribution to the depositors who have been defrauded by the chit fund companies. [6] In the process of adjudicating the matter from 2014 efforts are being put by this Court in monitoring the investigation and the steps taken for returning the amounts of the depositors at large. Periodical status report are also obtained in this regard. [7] The Sub-Divisional Magistrate West Tripura, Mohanpur , Jirania, and the respective collectors have submitted their reports to the Government way back in 27.01.2015 and Mr. B K Nag, the then Superintendent of Police West Tripura, also submitted before this Court on 19.03.2015 that FIR has been registered on 13.06.2013 on the basis of the complaints received from similarly placed persons and teams have been formed to take steps. [8] Sri Arup Deb, the then Under Secretary to the Government of Tripura in his status report has submitted that the cases are registered and matters are under investigation and because of the local law and order problems, it is difficult for the concerned teams to visit others States of the country. He expressed that the State has no objection to hand over the cases to CBI team. [9] By order dated 09.04.2015, this Court recorded that a Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been constituted by the State of Tripura and the matter is under investigation. From time to time, SIT is updating the progress of the investigation i.e., attachment of arrests made, attachment of properties and sale of the assets of the defaulters Chit fund companies/ finance companies etc. During the pendency of the proceedings, number of status reports have been filed by the investigating team and it is also seen from the record that the CBI has filed a latest status report through Mr. Amit Kumar Pandey, DSP, CBI, ACB Shillong in compliance of the order dated 20.08.2025 passed by this Court . It is stated in the said report that all chit fund cases of the State of Tripura were transferred to CBI and out of 35 Cases, charge sheets are filed in 33 cases and 01 matter is pending investigation and another 01 case was compounded by Chief Judicial Magistrate, West Tripura in the year 2019 itself. [10] It is further contended in the latest report of CBI that they have also re-registered 26 regular cases at 03 branches by amalgamating the above 35 cases of local police i.e., CBI ACB Shillong 13 cases, CBI, ACB, Gauhati 8 cases, CBI, ACB, Imphal 5 cases. Out of 26 cases in 24 cases charge sheet have been filed and investigation has been completed and in 2 cases they are at the verge of filing charge sheets as the investigation is almost come to an end. It is also stated in the report that attachment of the properties and attachment of e-auction of the immoveable properties and the sale proceeding are with the investigation team. [11] The State of Tripura has framed a specific scheme namely “Depositors Protection and Sale proceeds of NBFCs Disbursement Scheme, 2025” to ensure the fair, equitable and efficient distribution of the proceeds from the sale of assets (moveable / immovable properties) of NBFCs among its depositors and to safe guard the interest of depositors the said scheme is published in Tripura Gazette on 17. 05.2025. [12] In pursuance of the orders passed by this Court dated 20.08.2025 the statement has been placed on record by CBI showing the particulars in its format as follows:- CBI, ACB, Shillong ANNEXURE-A SL No. RC No. Names of company & accused persons charge sheeted Details of Immovable Properties Details of Movable properties Details of Properties attached Amount recovered Amount payable to customers/ Misappropriated amount No. Of customers defrauded CBI, ACB, Gauhati SL No. RC No. Names of company & accused persons charge sheeted Details of Immovable Properties Details of Movable properties Details of Properties attached Amount recovered Amount payable to customer/ Misappropriated amount No. Of customers defrauded CBI, ACB, Imphal SL No. RC No. Names of company & accused persons charge sheeted Details of Immovable Properties Details of Movable properties Details of Properties attached Amount recovered Amount payable to customer/ Misappropriated amount No. Of customers defrauded ANNEXURE-B SL No. RC No. Names of company & accused persons charge sheeted Details of Immovable Properties Details of Movable properties Details of Properties attached Amount recovered Amount payable to customer/ Misappropriated amount No. Of customers defrauded [13] It is needles to observe that all the contents of the aforesaid latest status report as provided in Annexure A & B, submitted by the CBI shall be made part of this order and the details of the said contents can be verified from the Annexure A & B. [14] It is seen from the details provided in the said Annexures that the CBI has successfully sold some properties through e-auction and recovered the amounts. [15] Mr. P. Roy Barman, learned Senior Counsel assisted by Mr. S. Bhattacharjee, learned counsel appearing for the petitioners made his submissions on the above that the amount have to be pooled and the same needs to be distributed amongst all depositors irrespective of the chit fund /finance companies. The submission made by Mr. Roy Barman, learned Senior Counsel cannot be accepted and since, the distribution of the recovered amount should be confined only to the chit fund company who has collected the amount from their respective depositors and the disbursement of the amount to be made only to the depositors with the said company but not to other 3rd parties. [16] Mr. S. M Chakraborty, learned Advocate General assisted by Ms. P. Chakraborty, learned counsel submits before this Court that in compliance with the direction issued by this Court on 20.08.2025 the respondents-State has furnished the details of Non- Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) with Board of Directors wherein it has been stated that 20 (twenty) nos. of Non- Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) was there and 67 nos. of properties have been attached of these companies . The further details of the said Non- Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) has been marked as Annexure- R/1, Annexure-R/2 and Annexure-R/3, Vol-VII of the affidavit filed by the State in the present case. [17] Mr. B. Majumder, learned Dy S.G.I appearing for the respondent- CBI submits that in compliance with the earlier order dated 20.08.2025 passed by this Court the respondent- CBI, has submitted a fresh status report with regard to the number of accused persons/ defaulters/chit fund finance companies, the properties attached, properties sold, the amount recovered and the amount payable to the customers and the number of customers which has been marked as Annexure-A and Annexure-B of the enclosed report. [18] After perusal of the record, it has been seen that the respondent- CBI has produced the details of Non- Banking Financial Company showing the number of accused persons/ defaulters/chit fund finance companies, the properties attached, properties sold, properties put to auction, the amount recovered and the amount payable to the customers and the number of customers. [19] In view of the same, this Court opines that in the State of Tripura, there are large number of Non-Banking Financial Companies operating which run various schemes such as, chit fund schemes etc. and day in and day out complaints are being received that poor people who have invested their hard earned life's savings in such companies are left high and dry without a penny being repaid to them. Thus, the matter is disposed of directing the concerned- respondent(s) to act accordingly and disburse the funds accrued out of the sale of the assets of the respective defaulting financer / chit fund companies to the depositors as per procedure contemplated in the scheme. [20] It is further directed that this exercise of auctioning / disbursing of money would be completed on or before December 2026. [21] It is needless to observe that the criminal proceedings on the file of concerned Court would proceed in accordance with law . [22] In view of the above observation, this present Writ Petition (Crl) stands disposed of . The personal appearance of the CBI-Official is also hereby dispensed with. [23] As a sequel, stay if any, stands vacated. Pending application(s), if any, also stands closed. B. PALIT, J DR. T. AMARNATH GOUD, J Paritosh SABYASACHI GHOSH Digitally signed by SABYASACHI GHOSH Date: 2025.09.12 11:28:07 +05'30'