Mamata Banerjee's Associate Arrested on Return From Dhaka

A member of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's delegation to Dhaka was arrested the minute he landed back in Kolkata with her last evening.

Shibaji Panja was detained by immigration authorities at the Kolkata airport, on the basis of a look-out notice in an economic fraud case filed against him.

Mr Panja was presented in court, where he has been granted bail for Rs 50,000 this afternoon. He had spent the night in hospital.

Asked about Panja's arrest this afternoon at the Kolkata airport, where she was on her way to Patna for Nitish Kumar's swearing in as Bihar Chief Minister, a visibly angry Mamata Banerjee said, "Why are you asking me? It was a non-official delegation."

"He is not a member of Trinamool Congress. He is a businessman who was part of the delegation to Bangladesh. The law will take its own course. However, the timing of his arrest smacks of vendetta. A ploy to undermine the hugely successful visit of the CM to Bangladesh," said Trinamool's Derek O'Brien.

A TV and film producer with a variety of other business interests, Mr Panja has been described by Siddharth Nath Singh of the BJP as a member of Ms Banerjee's "kitchen cabinet".

According to sources, a look-out notice was issued against Mr Panja on February 19 for a case of economic fraud, which had been filed in Delhi last July. Mr Panja had left for Dhaka on February 18, a day before Ms Banerjee left for Dhaka to take part in 'Bhasha Dibash' celebrations there.

West Bengal's opposition has gone to town on the issue. Said Sujan Chakraborty of the CPI(M), "A person is known by the company he or she keeps. The Chief Minister should have been careful about who was going to Dhaka with her."

Congress's West Bengal unit chief Adhir Chowdhury said, "The whole episode has embarrassed the country."

References are also being made to Mamata Banerjee's visit last August to Singapore. During a visit to the zoo there, she was photographed with a man the opposition claimed was a coal mafia don.

The West Bengal government later issued a statement saying that man was not part of the Chief Minister's delegation to Singapore.