MP Kunal's explosive claim: Mamata benefited most from Saradha scam
KOLKATA: Chief minister Mamata Banerjee suffered the worst salvo yet from her blue-eyed-boy-turned-renegade-MP Kunal Ghosh on the Saradha front on Saturday. "If anyone has benefited the most from the Saradha media, her name is Mamata Banerjee," the suspended Trinamool MP shouted out to reporters as he exited the city sessions court.
What's more, Ghosh - an undertrial in the Saradha case - told the judge that he wanted CBI to question the chief minister along with him and Saradha boss Sudipta Sen.
Sources close to Ghosh said he had been "preparing" over the last three days to make these explosive statements against his party chief. Only a day ago, Mamata had lashed out at the media for running a smear campaign against Trinamool and warned partymen that the "rotten mangoes" in the party may be dropped.
Unlike other days, when Ghosh shies away from the media, he seemed to be an aggressive mood on Saturday. Standing in the dock in a packed courtroom, Ghosh urged judge Arvind Mishra% to allow him to defend himself. When allowed to do so, he launched into a 15-minute argument without a break. Ghosh said that he was not praying for bail.
Rather, he wanted CBI to "interrogate Mamata Banerjee along with himself and Saradha CEO Sudipta Sen". Def-ending himself as a "salaried employee", he claimed he was not aware of funds being transferred from the Saradha-run media group, of which he was CEO, to Saradha Tours and Travels. Ghosh appealed to the judge not to allow those once close to Sudipta to "use the time to set their house in order". "We are in jail. But there are many once close to Sudipta Sen. Don't allow them to set their house in order," Ghosh told the judge. The hint was loud and clear. Ghosh pointed to the high and mighty, who he had named in a recorded video clip two days before his arrest.
The opposition pounced upon Kunal's explosive comment. State BJP president Rahul Sinha, while not giving the undertrial a clean chit, held that investigators should take Ghosh seriously "because of his proximity with the Trinamool chief during the Saradha scam". Pradesh Congress president Adhir Chowdhury was more direct: "We welcome what Ghosh has proposed. %The chief minister should come clean. CBI should question Mamata along with Kunal Ghosh and Sudipta Sen." %CPM leader Md Salim wanted Mamata Banerjee to "tell% CBI whatever she knew about the scam".
Ghosh's salvo prompted Trinamool leaders to come out in defence of their party supremo. At a hurriedly called press conference, party secretary general Partha Chatterjee said: "He (Ghosh) is aware of his predicament. Now that he has realized that he may be punished by the law for his wrongdoings, he is trying to take the CM's name in a futile attempt to save himself." Urban development minister Firhad Hakim dismissed Kunal's claim. "The comment comes from one of the prime accused in the Saradha scam. I am not taking it seriously," he said.
CBI, however, called Ghosh a "key person in the Saradha conspiracy" and sought his custody for 10 more days. CBI lawyer Partha Sarathi Datta submitted that Saradha had mobilized Rs 1,259 crore from the market, of which Rs 988 crore was pumped into its media group, of which Ghosh was CEO. The judge remanded Ghosh in jail till September 12 and Sudipta Sen and Debjani Mukherjee till September 18.
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