Kolkata, April 25: A letter bomb by the prime accused in the multi-crore chitfund scam alleging blackmail by two Trinamool Congress MPs blew in the face of the ruling party on Wednesday, as Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced a Rs 500 crore relief fund for the duped investors.
Scurrying for cover, the Trinamool supremo rejected allegations against the party in the Saradha chitfund scam and promised to take action against anyone found guilty.
The scam snowballed into a major political controversy with the names of two TMC MPs-- Kunal Ghosh and Srinjoy Bose-- figuring in a letter purportedly written to CBI by the collapsed company's Chairman Sudipto Sen, now in police custody.
In more trouble for Saradha group, the Income Tax department will also probe its investments and finances. Showcause notices for production of documents and recording of statements of promoters, investors and prominent agents in this case could be issued soon, top IT department sources said.
Congress and CPI(M) mounted a fresh attack on the TMC accusing the party of having links with the Saradha group whose Chairman had alleged in the letter to CBI that the two MPs had blackmailed him into parting with huge funds. A number of other politicians, officials and lawyers have been accused of milking the company for money
Obliquely referring to Ghosh who had recently resigned as the CEO of the Saradha Media Group, which had owned a TV news channel and Bose, editor of a Bengali daily, Banerjee said, "One journalist is being targetted ... There are so many journalists ... there is no use of identifying one channel and one newspaper.
"If any MP of Trinamool Congress has committed an offence, the law will take its own course," she said, accusing the CPI(M) of politicking over a people's issue.
Rejecting allegations against him, Bose said his paper did have a professional tieup with 'Channel 10' TV in 2010 for providing editorial support, but not with the Saradha chit fund company or any other ancillary.
Asked about the antecedents of the Saradha Group chairman, he replied, "We did not know that the man was a fraud." Bose also said that there was no relationship between his party and the Saradha Group.
Meanwhile, Sudipta Sen and two other Saradha officials were flown to Kolkata after the West Bengal police were granted four days transit remand by a court in Ganderbal in Jammu and Kashmir following their arrest yesterday.
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