Trinamool Congress leader Shankudeb Panda appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) here on Monday for questioning in connection with his alleged role in the multi-crore Saradha Group scam.
Mr. Panda was served a notice by the ED on December 23 and the officials had personally visited the party office to deliver the summons to him. ED officials had said that the registered office of a Saradha firm being investigated bore the Trinamool Congress’ office address. Mr. Panda’s links with the firm were detected from certain documents.
Mr. Panda, former Trinamool Chhatra Parishad president, was recently sidelined by the party and was replaced by Ashok Rudra. Mr. Panda, a former television journalist, is believed to have been an employee of the Saradha Group’s media wing. He was in charge of setting up a television channel, which was ostensibly funded by the Saradha Group.
In another development, editor of the Saradha Group-owned Azad Hind newspaper Aminuddin Siddiqui was questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation for his alleged link in the scam. Mr. Siddiqui was earlier questioned by the ED.
The ED has grilled several Trinamool leaders including Mithun Chakroborty, State Textile Minister Shyamapada Mukherjee, Mohammad Hasan Imran and actor Aparna Sen. Former party MP Kunal Ghosh and State Transport Minister Madan Mitra have been arrested earlier.
Membership drive planned Unfazed by its party leaders facing questioning, the Trinamool Congress has announced plans to embark on a member recruitment drive from 2015.
Party secretary general Partha Chatterjee announced the party’s plan of observing its foundation day on January 1, 2015, and a State-wide recruitment drive through out the coming year.
However, for the first time, the party has constituted a scrutinising committee to oversee the drive, Mr. Chatterjee said. Led by MP Subrata Bakshi, the committee will also have MPs Mukul Roy, Arup Biswas, Firhad Hakim, Abhishek Banerjee and Mr. Chatterjee on board.
Published - December 30, 2014 08:40 am IST
