In a sensational twist to Saradha chit fund scam probe, a city court on Monday directed the CBI to record jailed Trinamool Congress MP Kunal Ghosh’s statement inside the prison under Section 161 of the CrPC after he feared for his life and expressed his desire to tell all he knew about the multi-crore scandal. Ghosh told the court on Monday that he could be eliminated to suppress the truth by powerful people who are roaming free.
Ghosh, who literally broke down in the court, said that the ruling Trinamool Congress leaders were planning to eliminate him in order to suppress facts and alleged that the Special Investigation Team that was earlier handling the case had not transferred many records that it had seized from various places to the central investigating agency.
Metropolitan Magistrate Aravind Mishra directed the CBI to record his statement inside the jail and submit a report to him before the next hearing on October 21.
Ghosh also said that many things could happen before the truth came out. The CBI could be manipulated or many of its officers transferred like the way it happened when the SIT probed the case, he said.
He told the court that the SIT had not transferred to the CBI the documents he had carried with him to the police station from where he was arrested last year. He also told the court how the SIT did not show in its seizure list the documents it seized from his house which was raided on the night of his arrest.
“Now they are planning to eliminate me,” he said, adding “before that I want to give a secret statement to the CBI.” It was a travesty of justice that “those people who benefitted the most from the Saradha chit fund are roaming free and people like us who have been made scapegoats are cooling our heels inside the jail,” he said.
Curiously, Ghosh’s statements came in tandem with a similar one from jailed Saradha chief Sudipto Sen who petitioned the court to hold a Press conference and reveal certain things to the media. Pointing out that the newsmen asked him several things whenever he was brought to the court he said that all this while he had been keeping quiet in the interest of investigations. But time had come when he wanted to share something with the media and the people, he said petitioning the court to allow him to hold a Press conference.
Reacting to petition made by Ghosh, State BJP president Rahul Sinha on Monday said that his party also felt the same way. “We had already told that Kunal Ghosh, Arvind Singh and Asif Khan could be murdered as they were speaking up the truth. Now the statement of Ghosh is vindicating our fear.”
Sinha said that he had already written to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh about the threat to the lives of these people.
Meanwhile, Enforcement Directorate (ED) interrogated Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha member Srinjoy Bose on Monday about the payments made by Saradha group to a private clinic for his treatment in 2012.
Earlier, he was grilled by the ED in connection with his alleged involvement with the Saradha group. The sources said Belle Vue Clinic CEO P Tandon failed to turn up before the ED despite being summoned by the department.
This was a violation on the part of Tandon for which he would be imposed with a penalty, they said, adding that, he would again be asked to appear before the ED.