Kolkata:
While he was on the run, the millionaire whose chit fund scheme collapsed in Bengal last week, sent a letter to the CBI in which he accused 22 people of using him to make money. On the list are senior politicians from Delhi and leaders of the ruling Trinamool Congress.
Sudipta Sen, the head of the Saradha group , was arrested in Kashmir yesterday and is being escorted back to Kolkata by the police.
(Sudipta Sen: how he was traced and caught) In a politically incendiary 18-page letter, he alleged that two Trinamool MPs blackmailed him and exploited his companies. He said the party forced him to take over a a loss-making motorcycle factory in Bengal to keep it from shutting down. Five senior Delhi politicians are also indicted by him.
Srinjoy Bose, a Rajya Sabha member from the Trinamool, told NDTV that while he did do business with a section of the Saradha Group, he had no links to the chit fund company.
Mr Bose said that a newspaper he owned provided content to a TV channel owned by the chairman of Saradha, but the deal fell through in May last year because Saradha's cheques were bouncing. Mr Bose said he did not share this information with Ms Banerjee because involving her would have been "taking personal advantage" of his party president.
Another Trinamool MP Kunal Ghosh was the head of Saradha's media interests till April 3 this year. He has told NDTV that he was nothing more than "a salaried employee" and knew nothing about its financially dysfunctional chit fund.
Many investors and agents have said that they placed their money in Saradha because it seemed to be endorsed by the Trinamool. Ms Banerjee has emphatically denied this.
(Chit fund scam: How Saradha duped its investors)