File photo: Trinamool Congress Member of Parliament Srinjoy Bose
Trinamool Congress Member of Parliament Srinjoy Bose was today questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation or CBI in connection with the multi-crore Saradha chit fund scam.
Mr Bose, who also owns the popular Bengali daily
Pratidin, had, at one point in time, suspended Trinamool leader and Rajya Sabha MP Kunal Ghosh as one of his employees. Mr Ghosh is one of the main accused in the multi-crore scam and was arrested last year as was Sudipta Sen, the promoter of Saradha and the alleged kingpin of the scam.
On Monday, Mr Ghosh had challenged West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to set up an internal enquiry into the chit fund scam while he was being taken for questioning to the CBI office.
Last week, he claimed that Ms Banerjee was the biggest beneficiary of the Saradha Group's media operations, which he ran. He sought that he be taken into CBI custody and interrogated along with Mr Sen, and the Chief Minister.
With municipal elections due soon, the Trinamool on Monday fielded party MP and Ms Banerjee's nephew Abhishek to defend her. He said at a rally that Ms Banerjee would support an "unbiased investigation" into the Saradha scam.
The Saradha group closed shop across Bengal last year, unable to pay back depositors - mainly those from impoverished backgrounds in small towns and villages - who had parked their life's savings with the companies, lured by the promise of huge returns.