The IWC has filed a contempt declaration in the Saradha Chit Fund scam before the Supreme Court, seeking to link Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee with some of the accused and accusing her government of showing “constant, deliberate and voluntary non-cooperation” in the investigation and of “a concerted effort to evade, avoid and escape the legal process ”and“ sink the investigation ”.
In a request filed on December 23, the IWC said that examination of one of the defendants in the case, former Rajya Sabha MP Kunal Kumar Ghosh, by the Enforcement Directorate had “revealed that the Chief Minister of Bengal Occidental and M / s Saradha Group promoter Shri Sudipta Sen had a very good relationship, ”and cited call data logs to show that Ghosh and Sen were in constant contact.
The CBI is particularly critical of the role of former Calcutta Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar, who when posted to Bidhannagar had overseen the SIT investigation into Saradha’s case and has sought his custody questioning. In February 2019, Mamata had personally sat in a dharna to prevent a CBI team from questioning Kumar. Referring to this, the IWC told the Supreme Court that the “facts clearly point to a concerted institutional collusion and a total breakdown of the rule of law and the constitutional machinery in the state of West Bengal.”
The event is bound to further heat up the bitter political atmosphere in the state, which is heading into the Assembly elections next year, with Mamata leading the charge against a militant BJP.
The CBI request also speaks to the ED’s questioning of Safiqur Rehman, an employee of the Saradha Group, saying that he had “revealed that … (MP) Ghosh used to lead … (Saradha’s promoter) Sen to pay money to different committees. of Durga Puja “and that” When the Chief Minister, West Bengal, ran for the seat of the MLA … Sen was forced to sponsor all the Pujas in Bhawanipur, Kolkata. “
When asked about the IWC’s contempt statement with the Supreme Court, which is monitoring Saradha’s investigation, Trinamool MP Kalyan Banerjee said the agency had been reduced to “a political agency.” “Six years ago, the CBI received the investigation due to the allegation that the state machinery was not assisting in the investigation. After six years, this agency says the same thing. This CBI is nothing more than a political agency and before the elections, they are just trying to save their face. If the CBI is fair, why don’t they arrest Mukul Roy and Suvendu Adhikari?
Roy and Adhikari, former Trinamool leaders and co-defendants in the Saradha scam, are now with the BJP. The other defendants in the case include former Trinamool minister Madan Mitra, the late Trinamool MP Tapash Pal, TMC MP Sudip Banerjee, and Bengali film producer Srikant Mohta.
The CBI did not respond to inquiries sent by The Sunday Express.
Regarding Kumar, the agency told the Supreme Court, “More evidence has emerged that further corroborates the active collusion of … Kumar, then-Police Commissioner Bidhannagar, to shield and protect influential co-defendants who had promoted the illegal business activities of the Ponzi group of companies and that it had … benefited from illegally raised funds ”and that“ evidence connecting the ruling dispensation of the State of West Bengal at that time financially and from another mode with M / s Saradha’s Ponzi group of companies by Bidhannagar police under the leadership of… Kumar, to protect and save all concerned ”.
The CBI also discussed a detailed complaint sent by Sen in April 2013, which “contains serious allegations against many influential people such as Shri Kunal Kumar Ghosh, Shri Srinjoy Bose, Shri Santanu Ghosh, Smt Nalini Chidambaram, Shri Matang Sinh, Smt Manoranjana Sinh who were allegedly associated with the Saradha Group affairs and defendants ”. However, he said, the SIT and Bidhannagar police arrested and charged “only … Ghosh … and some employees of the Saradha Group.”
According to the CBI, Ghosh had also written to Rajeev Kumar in November 2013 “against Shri Arnab Ghosh, the then deputy police commissioner of Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate”, accusing the police of pressuring him to “make statements”.
The CBI’s application stated that it had discovered that Rs 6.21 million from the CM Relief Fund had been paid to Tara TV, which was part of the Saradha Group, “at the rate of Rs 27 lakhs per month”, since May 2013 until April 2015. “In order to further investigate seriously suspicious payments to a cloudy private media entity, a letter dated October 16, 2018 was written to the Chief Secretary of West Bengal to provide information on the constitution and the operation of the Chief Minister’s Aid Fund. Despite repeated efforts, the state government has fired with evasive and incomplete responses, ”he said.
The CBI also accused the Mamata government of failing to share “a list of the names of certain influential people and a synopsis of the evidence against them,” which had previously been presented by the state to the Supreme Court. “The State Police did not provide the registered information despite repeated requests.”
Speaking of an auction of Mamata’s paintings in 2011-2013, the CBI said that while these were bought by promoters from other ponzi companies besides Saradha, they were not investigated. “It has been recorded that not only M / s Saradha paid funds … but other ponzi companies such as M / s Rose Valley Group; M / s Tower Group; M / s Pailan Group; M / s Angel Agro Group has also bought paintings worth thousands of rupees directed by certain people linked to the highest state authorities ”. The state police did not investigate “any cases against any other group of ponzi companies as mentioned,” the CBI said.
The agency mentioned in detail the February 2019 incident when Mamata sat in a dharna to prevent a CBI team from questioning Rajeev Kumar. He accused Kumar of “hiding evidence” gathered by the police in their investigation between April 2013 and June 2014, including the “disappearance of records and information”, to “protect influential people associated with the broader conspiracy.”
The CBI said that, among other things, an investigating officer under Kumar’s direct supervision had delivered “crucial original, primary and fundamental evidence, such as laptops, mobile phones, etc. … to the lead defendant.” The agency said this was done “to destroy the evidence prior to the transfer of the case to the CBI.”
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