Nusrat Jahan to Mithun Chakraborty: Celebs whose names got involved in financial scam

In the world of glitz and glamour, money makes the wheels go around. Celebrities, with their larger-than-life personas, live lives that millions aspire to. However, their shining facades occasionally veil controversial tales of financial fraud. In the recent past, financial scandals have ensnared many renowned figures. Here are a few prominent Tollywood celebrities embroiled in such controversies.

Nusrat Jahan grabbed headlines on August 1 for all the wrong reasons. According to reports, Enforcement Directorate (ED) received a complaint against actor-politician and TMC MP Nusrat Jahan allegedly in connection to a ‘shady’ financial entity. As per reports, a BJP leader personally lodged this complaint against Jahan at ED’s Salt Lake office. When Panda filed this complaint he was allegedly accompanied by some individuals who were reportedly duped by the financial entity where the Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha member from Basirhat constituency in North 24 Parganas district was reportedly an erstwhile director. The complaint to the central agency stated that the said entity christened Seven Sense Infrastructure Private Limited received an amount of nearly Rs 6,00,000 from each of the duped investors promising them residential flats at reasonable rates within four years.Though they had not received those residential flats as yet, according to the complaint, the directors of the said entity, allegedly used that money to construct their own flats.

In 2015, Mithun Chakraborty, back then Trinamool Congress MP, had to return the money he received from the Saradha group to the Enforcement Directorate. The celebrated actor’s lawyer deposited a draft for ₹ 1.19 crore at the Enforcement Directorate office in Kolkata. Mithun was paid that sum for his appearance on one of Saradha's TV channels. Before this, he was questioned by the ED in connection with the multi-crore Saradha chit fund scam. During his questioning, the actor, according to reports, had told the investigators that his association with the Saradha group was purely professional and that he had no intentions of cheating or duping anyone.

In March 2023, actor Bonny Sengupta was summoned by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with its probe into the West Bengal teachers’ recruitment scam. He appeared before the financial probe agency at the ED office at CGO complex in Kolkata and was grilled for four hours. The Bengali actor’s name came up in connection with the scam after the ED questioned arrested TMC youth leader Kuntal Ghosh, as per reports. A few suspicious monetary transfers made by Ghosh were under the Enforcement Directorate’s scanner. Later, Bonny had to return Rs 40 lakhs he received from Kuntal.

In July 2023, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) questioned Trinamool Congress (TMC) youth wing president Saayoni Ghosh for more than 10 hours at its Kolkata office in connection with its probe into the alleged teachers’ recruitment scam in West Bengal. Ghosh, a Bengali actress with no political background, succeeded TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee as state president of the youth wing in June 2021.

In 2022, a woman registered a complaint against two people for duping her of Rs 40 lakh that she had invested in a fake cryptocurrency. The woman claimed she invested after she saw a man who appeared like iconic singer Kumar Sanu in a Zoom meeting organized by the accused. Men named Deep Sahu and Biman Das had allegedly promised the woman a whopping return of 1.5 percent per day if she invested Rs 50 lakh. They also claimed the iconic Bollywood singer was also linked to them and that Sanu's NFT will soon be launched in the market.

These incidents of financial scams serve as potent reminders that not all that glitters is gold. Despite their public personas, celebrities are human and can find themselves implicated in financial controversies either due to negligence or intentional transgressions. It's essential to remember that fame doesn't exempt anyone from legal obligations and that integrity should remain the cornerstone of any financial activity.