Kunal Ghosh has alleged that top party leaders, including Mamata Banerjee, knew about the Saradha chit fund group's irregular operations.
A Trinamool MP has threatened to slap a Rs 100 crore defamation suit against suspended party member Kunal Ghosh, who has alleged that top party leaders, including Mamata Banerjee, knew about the Saradha chit fund group's irregular operations but did not warn anybody against it. Mr Ghosh has even claimed the party accepted benefits offered by Saradha.
"The allegation made by Kunal Ghosh is false, fabricated and politically motivated," said MP Subhendu Adhikari, who Mr Ghosh names as a Saradha beneficiary. "My lawyer has already sent his family a notice. Unless they apologise publicly in three days, I will sue Ghosh for defamation for a 100 crore rupees," he added. There has been no formal word from Trinamool yet.
The opposition has demanded a CBI probe into the Saradha scam.
Kunal Ghosh, who is in police custody after his arrest on Saturday, has managed to embarrass his party as never before with a video recorded before his arrest in which he embroils Mamata Banerjee herself into the Saradha scam.
"It is very, very painful to me to write down this name. I love her. I respect her. I am grateful to her. I am not taking her name. But what the people believe, the facts are completely opposite. And these facts are much more dangerous for people also, which they have to realize after a few years," says Mr Ghosh.
But that was only the preamble. Mr Ghosh goes on to claim Mamata Banerjee knew all about Saradha's irregular operations but did not warn him or the public. Mr Ghosh was the head of Saradha's media outlets at the time.
"If government of India had written to the government of West Bengal regarding Saradha and others, why did the Chief Minister or Finance Minister or anybody else not inform us who are working in Saradha companies?" he asks.
"We later heard, around February this year, corporate affairs ministry had written to the state government that there were irregularities in Saradha and in some other companies. Why were we not warned then? Why wasn't the Saradha owner called and warned?" he adds.
"That letter didn't come to us. That letter was with the state government. Who will take responsibility for this? At that time, all of Saradha's media outlets were being used as Trinamool mouthpieces. They got the letter but suppressed it. Is that my responsibility? Only the responsibility of media workers? Is that possible?" Mr Ghosh said.
The Opposition is now clamouring for a CBI probe into the Saradha scam. Mohammed Salim of the CPM said, "Kunal Ghosh, till he was not divulging anything, Mamata Banerjee was issuing certificates for him. When he spilled the beans, he was arrested."
Congress's Pradip Ghosh said his party was going to pull out all stops to get a CBI probe into the Saradha saga.
Mr Ghosh is an accused in the Saradha case, so his claims are being questioned by many. But the claims have also raised questions that are embarrassing for the Trinamool. Claims that "Mamata Banerjee knew everything, Mukul Roy knew everything, the TMC leadership knew everything. So, no one can shirk off the moral responsibility".