Cal HC orders SFIO to investigate Rose Valley assets attached by ED
Times of India | 14 January 2026
Kolkata: Calcutta High Court on Tuesday directed Centre to order the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) to investigate Rose Valley assets worth Rs 1,171 crore attached by ED across the country, and submit a comprehensive report within a month.
The division bench of justices Rajarshi Bharadwaj and Uday Kumar noted that Rose Valley-linked cases had been pending with Calcutta HC since 2016. "The attached assets constitute public money in every sense, held in trust for restitution to victims," the bench stated.
Earlier, after the bench had asked the SFIO to conduct an audit following allegations of bias against the asset disposal committee, the statutory body had raised objections before the HC stating "jurisdictional" trouble over conducting forensic audit of the committee, since it cannot be called an "office".
The division bench clarified, "No direction has been or is being issued to SFIO to conduct any audit or assessment of the receipt and payments of Asset Disposal Committee per se... Rather, the forensic audit mandate pertains squarely to the attached assets of the Rose Valley Group of Companies, which indisputably qualify as "companies" incorporated under the relevant company laws. These assets, valued between Rs 20,000 to 30,000 crore and presently under attachment by the ED, form the corpus central to the multi-crore chit fund scam that has defrauded thousands of innocent depositors."
Sebi, CBI, ED, ADC, Rose Valley representatives, and depositors, were directed to extend unconditional cooperation by furnishing all requisite documents, electronic data, physical access, and clarifications within seven days of SFIO's requisition. Centre was directed to take a decision after perusing the report as to whether SFIO needed to proceed with forensic auditing.
The order comes a day after the Supreme Court on Monday rejected the ED's petition seeking a stay on HC's forensic audit order.