Saradha Chit Fund scam: Madan Mitra arrested by CBI

The CBI has arrested West Bengal transport minister Madan Mitra for cheating, criminal conspiracy, and misappropriation in the Saradha Chit Funds scam.

This news has come as a big blow for Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee.

Madan Mitra questioned by CBI

The CBI questioned Mitra on Friday regarding his role in the multi-crore scam.

The agency summoned the Minister on November 15, but he had cited health reasons and had sought relaxation from questioning him.

The CBI has arrested Trinamool Congress MP, Srinjoy Bose; MP Kunal Ghosh, Rajat Majumdar, Debabrata Sarkar, Sandhir Agarwal, and Sadanand Gogoi — in connection with the Saradha scam.

The Saradha Group, a consortium of more than 200 private companies, collected more than 200 to 300 billion rupees from over 1.7 million depositors before it collapsed in April 2013.

Later the Bengal Government had instituted an inquiry commission to investigate the collapse.

Saradha Group assigned Kunal Ghosh, a TMC MP, as the CEO of the Saradha group. The group acquired TV channels and newspapers and invested around US$ 160 million in the media group.

In 2013 it employed more than 1,500 journalists and owned eight newspapers printed in five languages.

Kunal Ghosh, who was arrested on November 23 for his role in the chit fund scam, had tried to commit suicide by taking sleeping pills inside the Alipore Central Jail.