Debjani Mukherjee, one of the directors of Saradha Group, was remanded by a city court here on Wednesday to the custody of Enforcement Directorate of the Ministry of Finance.
This is the first occasion since the massive ponzi scheme scam came to light in April that a central investigating agency has taken an accused in its custody.
According to sources, the Enforcement Directorate had also sought the custody of Sudipta Sen, chairman and managing director of the Saradha Group, who was arrested with Ms. Mukherjee.
“A city court had granted the custody of Ms. Mukherjee to the Enforcement Directorate till October 1. We urged that considering her ailing health, she be granted certain facilities and the court agreed,” Anirban Guha Thakurta, Ms. Banerjee’s lawyer, told The Hindu .
Though the demand for a probe into the scam by the Central Bureau of Investigation has been raised by certain political parties, a special investigation team set up by the State government is investigating the scam.
In an order issued in June a division bench of Calcutta High Court had said “stage has not come” to hand over the probe to CBI.
However, the court had said the State government may take suggestions or advice from any central agency in probing the scam. It had directed central agencies, including the Enforcement Directorate, to provide all necessary assistance to the State government.
