The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) today arrested Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Srinjoy Bose in the multi-crore Saradha scam, reports indiatoday.com.
Bose is accused of blackmailing Saradha Group chief Sudipto Sen into paying him Rs.60 lakh a month, an allegation he has denied.
“He has been arrested in connection with the Saradha scam. There is prima facie evidence against him,” a CBI official said.
Earlier on Friday, Bose and Congress leader Somen Mitra were summoned by the CBI for questioning in the scam, which has put the Mamata Banerjee government on a backfoot in West Bengal.
Bose is the second MP from Mamata’s Trinamool Congress to be arrested in the Saradha scandal, which led to lakhs of poor people losing their savings by parking their funds in companies of the Saradha group, lured by the promise of returns much higher than market rates.
The Rajya Sabha MP, son of shipping magnate Tutu Bose, is the owner of ‘Sambad Pratidin’, the daily which suspended Trinamool Congress MP Kunal Ghosh edited. He also owns a stake in one of the country’s top football clubs, the Mohun Bagan.
Bose’s arrest came days after the CBI submitted its second chargesheet in the scam and a failed suicide bid by Ghosh, who is already behind bars. Many Trinamool leaders have been arrested and interrogated by the CBI in connection with the scam.
Meanwhile, a day before he was scheduled to appear for questioning, West Bengal Transport and Sports Minister Madan Mitra was on Thursday admitted to the state’s largest government hospital after he complained of breathing disorder.
Mitra, who was admitted in a private nursing home since Tuesday, left the health facility and reached SSKM Hospital on Thursday afternoon and was admitted in the Woodburn ward, reserved for VIPs. Hospital director Pradip Mitra said the minister complained of dyspnea (breathing problems) and was undergoing a series of tests.
A journalist, who was with Madan Mitra just before he left the nursing home, claimed the minister “left suddenly” without taking even his security guard with him. However, nursing home sources said the minister was discharged in the afternoon.
The Trinamool sought to defend Mitra by claiming that summons by the CBI did not tantamount to being guilty. “CBI can summon anyone they like. But if someone is summoned by the CBI, it doesn’t prove him guilty,” Trinamool leader and Panchayat Minister Subrata Mukherjee said.
Source: The Daily Star