Calcutta, June 25: Lawyers representing transport minister Madan Mitra today referred to a Saradha programme that Mamata Banerjee had allegedly attended while arguing that he should not be made a "scapegoat in the deposit scam when several others seemed equally involved.

While the claim was not directly aimed at any top Trinamul leader, the fact that an oblique reference was made to the chief minister prompted a section of lawyers and party functionaries to wonder about the reasons behind the sudden change in stance by Mitra's lawyers.

Representing Mitra at the city sessions court, advocate Milon Mukherjee today told the court that one of the witnesses, Ashraf Ali from Malda, had said that while opting to deposit money in Saradha, he had been influenced by three things, including the alleged presence of Mamata at the inauguration of Kalam, a Bengali newspaper owned by Saradha, in April 2012.

"Of 25 lakh Saradha depositors, the CBI has found only four witnesses. When Ali lodged a complaint against Saradha for non-payment of dues, Trinamul was not in power. So how could Mitra have influenced him?" Mukherjee asked.

Ali, in his submission to the CBI, had apparently said that he was "influenced" to put his money in Saradha also because Mitra was the president of the workers' union of the company. Ali had also said he had seen a photograph of Mitra at a Saradha office in Calcutta.

The CBI argued in court that the Saradha scam involved several states and Mitra's release would influence the fate of the trail.

The court denied Mitra bail again.