West Bengal chit fund company Saradha Group's promoter, Sudipta Sen's rise was meteoric -- from a real estate agent to a media baron. He started off with real estate ventures and the the chit fund business made its debut in 2006. Around the same time, Sen tried to register one of his several companies, Saradha Tours & Travels, as a non-banking financial company but failed. Saradha has numerous companies -- some registered with the registrar of companies are just shell companies. But it became a household name in Bengal, when it surfaced in the media space in 2009 through Channel 10, a Bengali news channel. In 2010, he launched an English daily, Bengal Post, and a Bengali daily, Sakalbela. The expansion was rapid and till he suddenly closed down all the media arms.

There are few employees who have actually met him and even fewer who can claim to know him. Sen has religiously maintained a low profile, gave instructions that none of the media vehicles should carry his picture, and kept a hands-off editorial policy.

Trinamool Congress MP Kunal Ghosh, who was the group's media chief executive, was the face of Sen's media business.