Mamta paintings 'bought' by Sudipto after IRCTC deal with Saradha?

IRCTC RAINED MAMATA ON SARADHA WHEN DIDI WAS RAILWAY MINISTER

Tuesday, 02 September 2014 | Saugar Sengupta | Kolkata

CBI probes Railway subsidiary’s deal with Saradha Tours & Travels in 2010

Startling revelations in the Saradha chit fund scam probe could pose uncomfortable questions to West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee. The CBI has found that the Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), a subsidiary of Indian Railways, had struck a business deal with Saradha Tours and Travels owned by the jailed ponzi kingpin Sudipto Sen in   2010 for a tourism package called Bharat Teertha.  Banerjee was the Railway Minister at that time.

In another development, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has learnt that Saradha funds were transferred to the account of the daughter of Brazilian football star Barreto, who played for East Bengal Club for years. The ED suspects the involvement of Sports Minister Madan Mitra in the fund transfer.

While Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha said: “No one will be spared if found guilty,” his predecessor Adhir Chowdhury maintained that “such a deal would not have been possible had the then Railway Minister not played a role.”

Mamata is already under a cloud in the Saradha scam since Sudipto Sen purchased her paintings at an exorbitant price. The fact that IRCTC granted favours to the chit fund company when she was the Railway Minister could further muddy the water for her.

Meanwhile, flipping through bank statements recovered from various places, the ED stumbled upon an account where a huge amount of money from Saradha Tours and Travels had been transferred to the bank account of Barreto’s daughter Natalia Barreto at Panaji, sources said adding the first transfer took place in January 2012.

Further investigations revealed that “in the same year, huge amounts were transferred to the same account not once but about 15-16 times.” The ED will question the Brazilian footballer who is not in India currently.

Sources said the shady transfer “could explain the huge amount of money that was not accounted for during the Brazilian veterans’ soccer tournament organised a couple of years ago.” The match was organized under the auspices of Bengal Transport and Sports Minister Madan Mitra whose name has repeatedly come up in the Saradha deal. Sources also said that the names of two MPs and a Minister had come up during investigations. The CBI sources said they were planning to summon Mitra in a few days for questioning.

Meanwhile the ED on Monday summoned former chief of Tara channels Ratikanta Basu. Sudipto Sen in his statements to the ED has said that though Basu had sold off his four channels to him payments had not been made for the same.