Saradha scam: CBI nets Trinamool MP Srinjoy Bose

Kolkata In a telling blow to West Bengals ruling Trinamool Congress the CBI Friday arrested its Rajya Sabha member Srinjoy Bose the second party parliamentarian to be nabbed in connection with the multicrore rupee Saradha scamBose editor of Trinamool mouthpiece Jago Bangla was accused of blackmail by purported scam kingpin and Saradha promoter Sudipta Sen and grilled by the Central Bureau of Investigation CBI sleuths for nearly six hours before his eventual arrestBose has been arrested for his prima facie involvement in the Saradha scam on allegations of criminal conspiracy misappropriation of funds and deriving undue financial benefits He will be presented before a court Saturday a CBI officer told IANSSeizing the opportunity with both hands the opposition lost no time in pointing fingers at the Trinamool and demanding the resignation of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who had earlier promised to step down if her partys links with Saradha were provedBose also the editor of Bengali daily Sambad Pratidin and assistant general secretary of city soccer giants Mohun Bagan is the second Trinamool leader to be arrested by the CBI in the scamThe agency had earlier arrested party leader and former director general of armed police Rajat MajumdarAnother Trinamool Rajya Sabha member Kunal Ghosh who headed Saradhas media arm was arrested by police before the Supreme Court directed the CBI to take up the probeBesides the CBI Bose has earlier been grilled by the Enforcement Directorate ED and the Serious Fraud Investigation Office SFIO which too are probing the scamBoses arrest came on a day when CBI sleuths grilled Textile Minister Shyamapada Mukherjee and Congress leader Somen MitraTransport Minister Madan Mitra was also summoned by the CBI but he skipped the questioning citing ill health He is undergoing treatment at the staterun SSKM HospitalBose was named by Sen in a letter he purportedly wrote to the CBI in April last yearIn the letter Sen claimed he entered the media business after the Bengali daily started attacking himSen now under arrest along with his top aides said that after he purchased a television channel Bose alongside Kunal Ghosh came to him and he had to make arrangements for paying Rs60 lakh per month to the newspaper for running the channelSen had also claimed that the duo promised to ensure a smooth passage for him and protect his business from the state and central governments and assured him they have very close connection with the chief ministerSen in his letter also alleged that over two years the paper had taken Rs20 crore from him for running the channelHours before the arrest Banerjee lashed out at the course of the probeThose people duped by the Saradha and other chit funds are not getting back their money And the cases are being registered to find who all have duped Saradha This amounts to taking the side of thieves Is this your jurisdiction she askedState Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said Banerjee should step down in the interest of the scam probe while BJP leader Siddharth Nath Singh asserted that Banerjee should answer the 17 lakh people who were robbed by the scamPolitical analyst Biswanath Chakraborty said Boses arrest was a big blow for Banerjee and her TrinamoolIt may pave the way for more of its leaders getting arrested Besides providing fodder to the opposition it has weakened Banerjees position the Rabindra Bharati University professor told IANSThe Saradha scandal came to light in April last year The company closed shop across Bengal after being unable to pay back the depositors mainly poor people who lured by the promise of huge returns parked their lifes savings with the firmAs the company went bust there was a spate of suicides by agents and investors and protests across the stateSen many of his key aides and company officials are behind bars now