In more embarrassment for the ruling Trinamool Congress, the CBI has summoned West Bengal Textile Minister Shyamapada Mukherjee in connection with the multi-crore Saradha chit fund scam case.
While Mukherjee, who was earlier quizzed by the Enforcement Directorate, was not available for comments, CBI sources said that he had been summoned under Section 91 of the CrPC.Mukherjee has been asked to report at the CBI office either in person or through a representative along with the balance sheet of the cement factory that he once owned and later sold off to jailed Saradha chief Sudipto Sen.
CBI sources said he had been asked to present the last three years’ balance sheet before the agency for perusal.The allegation against the Textile Minister is that he had sold off a loss-making cement factory in Bankura to Sen for about Rs8-9 crore. The Minister, however, had earlier told the ED that he had sold the factory for Rs2.78 crore.Sen had, in his statement to both the ED and CBI, said that the transaction had taken place both via cheque and cash. “There is some ambiguity in the transaction and it is necessary to get more information from him,” a CBI source said.
On whether the CBI had any clue about the person who acted as a go-between in the deal, officials said they “would like to know about this and many things more”.
The deal that had taken place in 2009 has left the investigators perplexed because “it is difficult to understand why a businessman will buy a loss-making company for an amount that is far above the market price”.
The CBI is trying to ascertain whether any chit fund money changed hands through the deal.It is known that the CBI had gathered some information about the deal from ED also.The multi-crore chit fund scam has economically ruined more than 18 lakh people and triggered about 100 suicides.
Apart from the haze involving the sale, the CBI has also learnt that Mukherjee had sold off more land to Sen than actually what belonged to his cement company. In doing so he is suspected to have sold off the adjoining Government lands to the chit fund kingpin.Sources said that he had sold off 15 acres of land as part of the factory out of which only 8 acres belonged to him. The remaining part of the sold land belonged to the State Government.