TMC General Secretary Mukul Roy was questioned by the CBI today.
For nearly five hours on Friday, Trinamool Congress or TMC General Secretary Mukul Roy was inside the Central Bureau of Investigation's office in Kolkata. Outside, his supporters were on edge.
Finally, Mr Roy emerged at 3.30 pm, and said, "Naturally, I want the truth to be brought out. I have told the investigating agency if you think you need to call me again, you can, at any time."
As he left the CBI office complex, his supporters raised slogans and rushed behind his vehicle, which made its way to a make-shift stage that had been set up nearby.
There, Mr Roy made a brief speech thanking party workers for their support. His next stop was a small municipal office close by.
When he was asked if he had spoken had spoken to the Chief Minister, he was interrupted by an incoming phone call, but his supporters replied in chorus: "yes!"
Though Mr Roy is considered close to Ms Banerjee, a couple of incidents related to the Saradha scam have been interpreted by some as signs of a growing distance between the two.
One was the revelation that the Saradha Group had once bagged a contract from the railway subsidiary, IRCTC. Asked about it, Mr Roy said, "It didn't happen in my time."
Mr Roy had succeeded Dinesh Trivedi as the Railway Minister when the UPA was in power; before Mr Trivedi, Ms Banerjee had held the post.
More recently, Mr Roy reportedly confirmed that a meeting between Saradha Group's boss Sudipta Sen and Ms Banerjee had indeed taken place at Delo in Darjeeling, in March 2012.
Former Trinamool Member of Parliament Kunal Ghosh, who has been arrested over the chit fund scam, had first brought up the Delo meeting.
Mr Roy was allegedly the first Trinamool leader to confirm it; he was reportedly present at the meeting. He reportedly attempted to deny this later, but Ms Banerjee was learnt to be furious over this.
Ms Banerjee, meanwhile, has called a meeting of the party's core committee at her residence on Saturday. All eyes will be trained on whether Mr Roy will attend; he had not been present at the last core committee meeting as he had been away in Delhi.