The Opposition parties of Bengal have lashed out at the ruling Trinamool Congress for trying to obstruct investigation into the Saradha chit fund case by arm-twisting the key witnesses like former Trinamool leader Asif Khan who was on Thursday night arrest on “frivolous” charges of cheating and fraud.
Though Khan who was admitted to a State hospital after complaints of uneasiness would not speak, the State Opposition outfits alleged that the Government was trying to derail the Saradha investigation process.“Because Asif Khan’s statements regarding Saradha case is making the top Trinamool Congress leaders uncomfortable they have now got him arrested so that they can intimidate him into changing his statements,” BJP’s observer for Bengal Siddharthnath Singh said.
“He has been thrown behind the bar so that he does not give out the names of the senior leaders like Mukul Roy” he added quoting the newspaper reports.
Attacking the Trinamool Government for browbeating the Saradha witnesses PCC president Adhir Chowdhury wondered as to “why Khan was not arrested earlier and why he was arrested now even though the case is an old one and even though Khan was appearing in public for the past several months.”
He said “Asif Khan was arrested today because he had just started to open his mouth against his former bosses. But most of them are sure to go to jail in a few months’ time.”
Khan formerly a close aide of senior Trinamool leader Mukul Roy had reportedly told the CBI about certain names in the party hierarchy who enjoyed close chemistry with the jailed Saradha boss Sudipto Sen. He also accompanies the CBI sleuths to Singapore where a senior Trinamool leader was running a hotel. Khan was arrested for allegedly cheating two businessmen of Rs20 crore and Rs8 crore respectively.
Meanwhile, the Trinamool leadership on Friday refuted claims that the party was still in touch with Rajya Sabha MP Kunal Ghosh who was currently in jail in connection with Saradha scam.It has been found that the Trinamool was still collecting a monthly levy of Rs10,000 from Ghosh’s account. Reacting to posers party MP Kalyan Banerjee said the party had nothing to do about that as the levy was being deducted as per settled arrangements.
“It is for Mr Ghosh to issue instructions accordingly if he at all wants to stop the contribution,” Banerjee said adding “one has to keep in mind that he has not been expelled from the party.”