The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probing the larger conspiracy angle in the Saradha and other chit fund cases has reportedly extracted the names of a number of political big fishes who had deep links with jailed Saradha chit fund boss Sudipto Sen.
After two hours of intense grilling Panda revealed the names of at least “five-six influential people”, including those of some Ministers and MPs who were closely in touch with Sen and had dealt with
him, sources said. The Trinamool leader is also known to have handed over some “relevant documents” to buttress his statement.
The session with Panda was video-graphed and statements and documents furnished by him will be examined before the sleuths decide to call him again, sources said adding “he has cooperated with the interrogation process and may be needed for further investigation.”
Panda is known to have given the names of at least two senior Ministers from and around Kolkata who he said had close contact with Sen, sources said adding he also gave the names of two such MPs who had been quite active Trinamool leaders.
Early last week Panda was grilled for a marathon six hours by the CBI whence he had partly answered some questions and had evaded others prompting the officials to summon him once again.
The TMC general secretary who had earlier been close to senior leaders like Mukul Roy before moving close to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee whom he addresses “Pishi” or aunt had received about Rs 50 lakh from the Saradha group.
He reportedly claimed that the money was in lieu of his services rendered as a journalist to a Saradha TV channel which had not seen the light of the day. The CBI asked him to furnish the relevant papers buttressing his claims.
Meanwhile the CBI on Monday conducted simultaneous raids at various locations owned by Angel Agritech company, unearthing incriminating documents that could further pose problems for the jailed Trinamool leader and former State Minister Madan Mitra and one of his “very close relatives.”
The CBI sources claimed to have unearthed a scam of several hundred crores in the said company which functioned in North Bengal also.