Saradha chairman Sudipta Sen, who owns the Tara group of TV channels and scores of other media properties have been arrested.
Police in India’s northern state of Jammu & Kashmir say they arrested Sen along with Debjani Mukherjee and Arvind Singh Chauhan, both senior functionaries of Saradha group.
He was arrested from Hotel Slowlight in Sonmarg, well known as a tourist attraction in Kashmir.
West Bengal police officials say Sen had left Calcutta for Ranchi in Jharkhand state and travelled all through northern India to evade the police after the law keepers started a massive manhunt to track him down.
Sen has been accused of defrauding millions of investors with ponzi type schemes and thousands have been rendered jobless after he announced closure of many of his companies including those dealing in media.
He is also accused of siphoning off billions of rupees.
Employees and depositors across eastern India have filed cases of fraud and criminal deception against Sen.
The West Bengal government is in a tight spot because Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamul Congress party has been seen as close to Sen and his companies.
Trinamul MP Kunar Ghose was CEO of his media arm, Saradha Printing and Publications that ran two English and one Bengali daily, one magazine and four TV channels.
“Arrest Kunal Ghose” was on placards and banners held up by Saradha employees who have been demonstrating for justice and relief in various parts of West Bengal in the last few days.
Trinamul’s state minister for transport Madan Mitra was the chairman of the Saradha employees union.
CPI (M) leader Sujan Chakrabarty has told a panel discussion on ABP Ananda TV that former Railway Minister Mukul Roy (close to Mamata Banerjee) has taken atleast 260 million rupees from Sudipta Sen.
Mukul Roy has threatened defamation but Sujan Chakrabarty has dared him to go to court. “Let him sue me, it will help me lay bare his connections with Saradha and that of many of his party leaders,” said Chakrabarty.
Mamata Banerji has also inagurated some new businesses of Saradha group. “How would I know they were involved in cheating people. They gave some ambulances for rural people and I welcomed it as social work,” she said on Tuesday.
With state panchayat polls round the corner, the Saradha scam could hit the Trinamul Congress hard at a time when they have decided to go it alone in the fight for controlling rural Bengal.
Source: Bd news24
