Trinamool Congress MP Kunal Ghosh has been asked to appear before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday in connection with the Saradha scam probe.
Ghosh has earlier been called by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the multi-crore fund scam just weeks after he was asked to be TMC spokesperson in August last year. He has once been cross-examined with former Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar in 2019.
Pertinently, Ghosh had been suspended by TMC after he called its supremo, Mamata Banerjee, as the “biggest beneficiary” in the Saradha chit fund scam in 2019.
The Saradha Chit Fund scam was a ponzi scheme that rocked the nation in 2013. Under the scheme, the Saradha Group, a consortium of over 200 private companies allegedly collected thousands of crores of rupees from over 17 lakh depositors by running collective investment schemes. After its collapse in 2013, the TMC-led government of West Bengal formed an inquiry commission to investigate the case.
Alongside this, the Centre launched a multi-agency probe involving the Income Tax department and the ED. The Supreme Court in 2014 ultimately handed over the investigation to CBI to probe into possible international money laundering, serious regulatory failures and alleged political nexus concerning the scam.
Several ruling TMC leaders including Kunal Ghosh, Srinjoy Bose, former West Bengal Director General of Police Rajat Majumdar, Sports and Transport minister in the TMC government Madan Mitra were among the few arrested in the scam. TMC’s Srinjoy Bose later quit from the party, a day after being given bail, resigning from the Rajya Sabha seat and quitting politics altogether. CM Mamata Banerjee had claimed ‘political vendetta’ by the BJP over the arrests.
