With the wife and the son of jailed Saradha chief Sudipta Sen just beginning to spill the beans, on a galaxy of Trinamool leaders, their alleged connection to the shady group is coming to the fore, Enforcement Directorate sources informed.
The ED, which arrested the duo on Wednesday after getting a five-day remand order, has reportedly sent notices to about half-a-dozen Trinamool leaders including two MPs — a Minister and a party candidate — in the lok Sabha poll fray.While the officers refused to comment on the record, but privately they agreed that his is “just the tip of the iceberg.”
However, the ED has also unearthed Saradha property of about `140 crore out of `3,000 crore that was allegedly lifted by the group from the market.Sources said a North Kolkata leader and a soccer club official could also be involved in the dealings, adding the Saradhas had more than 220 companies and accounts which were operated more than 10 lakh times.
To add to the misery of Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee in the midst of the election season, the ED sources also said that a senior Trinamool leader and an MP had got Sen to right a letter to the CBI, with the help of a senior advocate, naming the low-key players were intentionally listed to hide the bigger fishes.Sources also said that the MP was even trying to secure bail for Sen who fell ill on Friday after hearing about the arrest of his wife and son. He was not taking any meal and was put for counselling sessions, jail authorities informed.
The Opposition had been crying hoarse form the past couple of years about the the ruling party’s close nexus with the chit-fund scamsters.“We have been repeatedly telling that thousands of crores, earned from chit-funds, have been used in the elections,” said former CPI(M) MP Sujan Chakrabarty adding that “even the Chief Minister should be grilled on the issue.”However, Mamata Banerjee at a meeting in Birbhum on Friday, once again claimed that her party was in no way connected to chit-fund scam.
“We are poor men’s party and we run our organisation with our own money. We do not have anything to do with the scam. The left Front should be questioned instead who introduced such funds during their tenure and the media houses who published advertisements of chit-funds,” she said adding that she would soon start cases against the media houses who carried such ads.