A city court on Tuesday rejected the bail plea of East Bengal Club official Debabrata Sarkar, arrested in connection with the Saradha scam, and remanded him to the custody of the CBI till August 29.
The other six accused in the scam including, Sudipta Sen, company chairman and managing director of Saradha and Kunal Ghosh, the suspended all India Trinamool Congress, were remanded to judicial custody till September 8.
While Mr Sen and Mr Sarkar were in the custody of CBI, the other accused were under judicial custody.
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Counsel appearing for East Bengal club official sought bail but the lawyers appearing for the CBI opposed it stating that Mr Sarkar is required for further questioning.
He was arrested on August 20, a week after the CBI searched his house. The Saradha CMD had accused Mr Sarkar and Mr Agarwal of extorting crores of rupees from him.
Along with the CBI, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is also probing the scam. State Textile Shyamapada Mukherjee, actress and filmmaker Aparna Sen, AITC MP Ahmed Hasan Imran and former IPS officer Rajat Majumdar are among those who have been questioned.
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Commenting on the ongoing probe, former State Finance Minister Asim Dasgupta said a thorough probe should be conducted by the CBI in the scam.
The investigation should be completed as early as possible. Otherwise those who have siphoned off the money will park the money elsewhere, he added.