In a small yet significant development that had created a flutter in Trinamool Congress camp the advocate of jailed West Bengal Minister Madan Mitra on Thursday for the first time dragged Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s name in the Saradha case wondering why his client would languish in jail while many others roamed free despite their names figuring in the multi-crore chit fund scam.
Arguing for his client advocate M Mukherjee told the court that there were many people whose names had bobbed up in the case yet they were not touched. Mamata Banerjee had herself inaugurated a magazine of the Saradha group, he said.
Quoting from the depositors’ statements that there were many high and mighty people whose names had been mentioned he wondered “why then my client will have to suffer singly.” The Minister was “being made a scapegoat in the entire affair.”
Though Trinamool top brass had no doubt that Madan was consulted before his lawyer mentioned the Chief Minister’s name all remained tight-lipped over the issue. Many leaders conceded however that Thursday’s development would embolden a voice of dissent in the party.
The advocate’s submission in the court tended to border the one made repeatedly by another jailed Trinamool leader Kunal Ghosh who had early this month claimed that at least six ministers and eight MPs were involved in the scam and that the Chief Minister had benefited the most from the Saradha media deals.
The Minister’s bail plea was rejected by Additional District and Sessions Judge laxmi Kanta Das after the prosecution (CBI) lawyer argued that there was no change in his position as an influential person who had both power and facility to tamper evidence.
The CBI lawyer said that the jail authorities had not responded to the Agency’s queries on the number of days spent by the Minister in jail and hospital. He also showed how Mitra had spent last four months of his 195-day incarceration in the
VVIP Woodburn Ward of the State-run SSKM Hospital which would not have been possible had he not been a powerful man.
The belief that his lawyer might have taken the Minister’s approval before showing a controlled aggression against the Chief Minister tended to get reinforced by what an MlA said requesting anonymity.
Madan Mitra was “unhappy with the way he has been cast aside by the party. He feels being used by the senior leaders who he said were making him a scapegoat.”