The multi-crore Saradha chit fund probe continued to dog Assam’s ruling Congress as the CBI is grilling president of the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee, Anjan Dutta, for the past two days, even as reports are pouring in that the Central agency has also summoned senior Congress leader and former Health and Education Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma to its Kolkata office for grilling.
The CBI officials have grilled the APCC president twice for more than three hours each on Thursday and Friday at the Kolkata offices of the agency. Dutta, who had taken the charge of PCC last year, was also grilled in November last year and the agency raided his house in Assam.
“They (CBI) have summoned me and I appeared before them. They asked me some questions and I have cooperated. Today they wanted to verify the Xerox copies of the documents I have submitted to them with the original ones and I have showed them the originals,” said Dutta while coming out of the CBI’s office.
It may be mentioned here that the names of Dutta and Sarma appeared in the letter written by Saradha chief Sudipta Sen to the CBI. Dutta, a Congress legislator from Amguri Assembly constituency is a former Transport Minister.
The APCC chief has been in the business of printing and Sudipta Sen had rented Dutta’s press for printing one of the Bengali dailies owned by Saradha Group in Assam. Sources further informed that former Assma Health Minister, who had been questioned by the CBI in November last year, has also been summoned by the Central Investigating Agency. Sarma, however, has sought some time for appearing before the CBI on the pretext that the Session of the Assam legislative Assembly is underway.
It may be mentioned here that the CBI had last year raided the house of Sarma and the office of a satellite news channel owned by Sarma’s wife.