Chattoraj (right) being produced in court. Picture by Pradip Sanyal

Calcutta, Jan. 12: The CBI today arrested Trinamul Congress leader Suniti Chattoraj on the charge of making false statements to shield a customs official from whose house Rs 88 lakh and incriminating documents were seized.

Chattoraj, who was a minister in Siddhartha Shankar Ray’s cabinet, was granted bail by a CBI court.

CBI sources said Chattoraj had told the investigating agency that it was he who had kept the money and the documents with his friend, customs official Kanchan Kumar Sanyal.

Chattoraj had moved court to get the money back from the CBI’s possession, they added. The CBI alleged that Chattoraj had also made false statements in court.

Today, CBI officials went to Chattoraj’s residence at Salt Lake in Calcutta and told him to appear for interrogation at the investigating agency’s Nizam Palace office. Sanyal was also summoned. As soon as they arrived, they were arrested.

In 2003, the CBI had started a case before the Customs’ Executive and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal against Sanyal, a junior departmental representative in the customs, alleging he had acquired properties disproportionate to his income.

When the case was pending with the court, the CBI conducted a raid on Sanyal’s house and seized Rs 88,34,550 and some documents.

CBI superintendent of police D.K. Thakur said: “When Sanyal was accused, Chattoraj had come forward and told the CBI that the money was his and he had kept it with his friend. He had also alleged that the CBI had wrongly arrested Sanyal.”

“Chattoraj had moved a sessions court and also Calcutta High Court claiming the money from the CBI. He told the court that the amount ? collected from members of National Labour Co-ordination Committee (a Congress-affiliated labour organisation), of which he was the vice-president ? had been kept with Sanyal,” Thakur added.

The Trinamul Congress declined to comment. Leader of the Opposition Pankaj Banerjee said he was in Nadia attending a party meeting and was unaware of the developments.