Hours after being released from the Government-run SKM Hospital where he was admitted with stress related and other conditions after getting CBI summons in the multi-crore Saradha chit fund case, Bengal Transport Minister Madan Mitra on Wednesday said he would cooperate with the Central agency and would report at the CBI office whenever called upon to do so.
Mitra who had allegedly been evading the investigators tended to soften up on Wednesday following reports that CBI could take sterner actions against the Minister if he did not respond to its summons within a couple of days of his release from the hospital. Mitra said he would report at the CBI office if he was asked to do so.
Incidentally the Chief Minister had a fortnight ago told a public rally that none in his party, including Mitra had any connection with the Saradha or any other scam.Mitra remained closeted with his lawyers before he spoke to the media. Normally flamboyant and aggressive in his style, Mitra, a trade union leader looked downbeat after his release.
He told the media that he “would cooperate with the CBI if they call me again.”When asked about his alleged involvement, the senior Trinamool Congress leader whose name had repeatedly bobbed up in the ponzi fund probe iterated “neither anyone from my family nor from my party has taken any money from Saradha or any other chit fund group” adding, “I will tell the CBI whatever they ask me but I will speak to them only and no one else.”
Mitra’s statement came almost in tandem with reports that pro-Mamata Banerjee artist Suvoprasanna who had twice summoned by the Enforcement Directorate had suddenly gone underground.This, even as the ED proceeded to seal two of his daughter’s hotels in Mumbai, sources said, adding the Agency was not satisfied with the clarifications he had given to its questions earlier. The ED was also not happy with the way he had sent his chartered accountant to the ED office instead of appearing in person.
Repeated calls made on his phones went unanswered for the past couple of days. Suvoprasanna was last seen on the front rows at a public function at the Netaji Indoor Stadium when he attended the inaugural shindig of the Kolkata Film Festival, a pet project of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Incidentally in what could appear as an ideal instance of last moment ditching the Chief Minister last week told a party rally that she was not bothered about Suvoprasanna or his dealings as she knew her as a renowned painter only.Banerjee had however closely worked with the artist since the Nandigram days and even joined key mid-night meetings at his Salt lake residence along with other civil society members.
Meanwhile, a city court on Wednesday extended Trinamool MP Srinjoy Bose’s CBI remand till November 29. Bose was cooperating with his interrogators, the sleuths told the court.