(MENAFN- The Peninsula) The CBI on Friday told a local court that huge funds were transferred to state Transport and Sports Minister Madan Mitra by the Saradha Group and that he had played an active part in connivance with group Chairman Sudipta Sen in the scam.
Mitra, arrested in the Saradha case, was on Friday sent to judicial custody yet again for 14 days - till january 16. CBI counsel Partha Sarathi Dutta, while opposing Mitra's bail plea, alleged that he was one of the main conspirators who provoked people to deposit their money with the chit fund company. "Mitra, an influential minister, might tamper evidence if he is granted bail," he added.
Monikuntala Roy, judicial magistrate in an Alipore court, rejected the bail plea filed by Mitra's counsel Ashok Mukherjee pleading that the minster would not tamper with evidence and comply with any condition imposed by the court.
The minister, meanwhile, defended himself by telling the court: "If the CBI can prove that I have taken a rupee from the Saradha group of companies, then I am ready to be hanged."
"In 2009, when I was an MLA from the Bishnupur area, I was told that Saradha was not paying poor farmers from whom it had purchased land for its real estate business. At that time, I had gone to Sen's office and asked him why he was not paying the farmers. He had said that his company was small and he would pay up," he added.
Mitra, however, accepted in the court that he was introduced to Sudipta Sen in 2009 and since then, was in touch with him. "Later, I was invited to a programme organised by the group. There I made the comment - 'bindu theke sindhu'. There was a huge controversy over it. But I want to tell the court that through my comment, I only wanted to say that a small company will also become big one day," he said.
Meanwhile, the CBI lawyer, while alleging that Mitra was violating the jail code, claimed he was getting special felicities and had been given a phone which he uses to speak to his family members and associates. Mitra on Friday refused to get into the prison van while coming to and leaving the court. He was given a special vehicle by the police in which he reached the jail.
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