West Bengal Textile Minister Shyamapada Mukherjee has been summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the Saradha Group’s Ponzi scam. He is the first All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) government Minister to be summoned in relation with the scam.
Mr. Mukherjee said he was summoned regarding a plot of land he sold to the Saradha Group.
“The ED has given me a week’s time to appear before them,” he said, adding that the land deal was made about six years ago in 2008-2009.
Trinamool MP from Balurghat constituency and theatre personality Arpita Ghosh was summoned by the ED in April. Ms. Ghosh was associated with a vernacular news channel belonging to the Group.
Mr. Mukherjee’s summon came a day after the CBI searched 30 locations across Kolkata, Odisha, Delhi and Guwahati.
While the CBI is probing into the criminal offences of the scam, the ED is probing into the violations of the Companies Act.
“What is happening now is politics. Our initiative earlier was to return money to the investors,” State Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim said on Saturday.
In Kolkata, along with residences of Piyali Sen and Subhojit Sen, the wife and son of Saradha Group Chairperson and MD Sudipta Sen, searches were made at the house of influencial people like former IPS officer Rajat Majumdar and businessman Ramesh Gandhi.
