Demanding CBI inquiry into Saradha Group chit fund scam, CPI(M) on Sunday accused West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew of being involved in ponzy schemes and said she should come clean on the issue.
“Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee, who is the leader of Trinamool Congress Yuva, runs a company which is involved in real estate and micro-finance and has made a huge amount of money in the last two to three years. Microfinance is a civilised name of chit funds,” CPI(M) central committee member Gautam Deb told a rally in neighbouring North 24 Parganas district.
Sudipto Sen, the chairman of the Saradha group who is now in police custody, was often seen as close to Trinamool Congress leadership.
TMC MP Kunal Ghosh was heading the media wing of the Saradha Group, he alleged.
“Mamata Banerjee has to answer about this company. The chairman and CMD of this company is Abhishek Banerjee. We want to ask her whether her nephew runs chit funds or not. What kind of real estate business he hasIJ Who has given approval to this micro-finance company run by Abhishek IJ”
Only a CBI inquiry into the entire chit fund business in the State can bring out the truth, he asserted. “Only a CBI inquiry can bring out who are involved in it and what relation does TMC have with these chit funds. A small police commissionarate like Bidhannagar cannot investigate the matter in its entirety.”
He took a dig at Banerjee for her statement that her party is run with money fetched by selling her paintings.
“Does she think that the people of Bengal are foolsIJ Is she a much bigger painter than Picasso, MichaelangeloIJ Who buys those paintings for (Rs) two croresIJ It is Sudipta Sen and owners of other chit fund companies. Once she steps down as CM we will see who buys her paintings,” he said.
Chit fund director beaten up by mob, held
With the Saradha scam rocking West Bengal and north-east, the Director of a chit fund was arrested from residence after depositors beat him up at Ranir Bazar area, about 25 km from here.
Police on Saturday night arrested Dipak Saha, Director of ‘Self-Trust’, a chit fund company on complaints that his company did not refund the customers even after maturity of their deposits.
The accused was produced in a local court today which remanded him to five-day police custody.
Police said according to initial assessment the company had collected Rs. 5 crore from people, especially from the tribals, with assurances that their money would be doubled in three years, but money was not given back on maturity.
The depositors had lodged specific complaints to police with documents of maturity of their funds, police added.
State Finance Minister Badal Chowdhury said many chit-fund officials fled from the state after the chit-fund scam surfaced in West Bengal.
The ruling CPI-M in Tripura, meanwhile rubbished a media report that the party leaders had links with some chit-fund groups.
Earlier, Chief Minister Manik Sarkar had criticized the central government for not enacting any uniform law against the chit-funds in the country.
CPI-M state Secretary, Bijan Dhar said as the central government was not opening adequate bank braches in remote and rural areas, people were being allured by the chit-funds.