File photo of Madan Mitra, West Bengal Transport Minister
A Bengal minister has checked himself into hospital just before his interrogation by the CBI in the Saradha chit fund scam. Madan Mitra is the first minister to be summoned in the scandal that has embarrassed the government of Mamata Banerjee.
The investigating agency has also called two other prominent politicians, Trinamool parliamentarian Srinjoy Bose and Congress leader Somen Mitra, who have both said they will appear for questioning.
Mr Mitra, the state Transport Minister, spent four days at a private nursing home and on Thursday, switched to a government hospital. He received the CBI's summons on Tuesday.
Yesterday, he walked out of the nursing home after signing a "Discharge Under Risk Bond" and checked into the government-run SSKM hospital.
Mr Mitra is known to be close to jailed Saradha Group chairman Sudipta Sen.
The minister has been seen in video clips praising Mr Sen at a meeting of Saradha agents.
The Saradha Group operated a Ponzi scheme offering massive returns of 40 per cent and more until it collapsed last year, leaving lakhs of small investors bankrupt in West Bengal and Odisha.
Last week, suspended Trinamool MP Kunal Ghosh allegedly overdosed on sleeping pills in jail, in what the police said was a suicide attempt. Mr Ghosh had threatened in court that he would take his own life if the "real beneficiaries" of the chit fund scam were not arrested. He has alleged that top leaders of his party are being shielded.
The CBI, which is investigating the scam in both states, has filed two chargesheets in the case.