The “maroon diary” and a “personal mobile phone” of Rose Valley chief Gautam Kundu seem to have done senior Trinamool Congress leader and MP Sudip Bandopadhyay in.
The CBI has discovered a number of names in the diary recovered from a hidden chamber inside the RV headquarters in Kolkata. Allegedly scribbled by Kundu personally the details in the diary contain records and details of transaction between him and the politicians mentioned in the scrapbook, sources quoting the investigators claim.
Sources also revealed that a “personal” mobile phone belonging to the RV boss has been recovered from the hidden chamber. The phone data mentions a Swiss Bank account where crores of rupees were siphoned off and then withdrawn. The investigators have reportedly recovered the names of half a dozen leaders including three Ministers and wife of one of them, a famous Bengali film actress from the diary and the phone.
The “chance recovery” of the ‘priced evidences’ was made following a “unknown phone call” that asked the investigators to “search for unlikely places inside the building including walls, washrooms etc.”
Subsequent search brought to the notice of the officers a hollow wall which was then pulled down to discover a secret chamber and an iron chest and a locker inside which the phone and the diary along with some other important evidences were stored sources said.
The new pieces of evidence brought to the fore the name of a Minister from South Kolkata who also holds another “very important post.”
Reference has also been made of the wife of this Minister who owns an account in Swiss Bank.
The name of another Minister from North Kolkata has also been found in the diary. The daughter of this Minister who is an architect was entrusted with the contract worth crores to decorate the interiors of the Rose Valley headquarters, it has been revealed.
The diary and the phone seem to have dragged the name of yet another “very senior” Trinamool functionary who formed a “triangle” with Sudip Bandopadhyay and Gautam Kundu. This leader was once grilled for several hours in the Sharada scam.
Bandopadhyay introduced Kundu to this leader when he was in search of vast tract of land who then sent the RV chief to an MlA in North 24 Parganas. A deal was struck and Kundu paid Rs10 crore.
However, no transfer of property materialised, neither the Rs10 crore was returned. The phone details and the entry in the diary suggests Kundu was annoyed with the leaders for fobbing him off the cash. Before he could do anything he was arrested last year.
Among other names that the CBI has chanced upon is a Minister from North Bengal who is known to have received several crores in lieu of facilitating the smooth acquisition of 150 acres of land for a proposed film city.
Meanwhile with the CBI proceeding to establish the “larger conspiracy angle” as directed by the Supreme Court it seems to have discovered a common link between Rose Valley and Sharada scams with the names of most of these leaders mentioned above bobbing up in both the scams, sources said.