Abu Hasem

Malda, April 22: A Trinamul minister from Malda has demanded the arrest of Abu Hasem Khan Choudhury for allegedly recommending to the Prime Minister the name of Saradha Group CEO Sudipto Sen.

Abu Hasem, the Malda South MP and a Union minister of state, has denied the allegation though he said Sen had visited him at his home. The MP said he had written to the Prime Minister to bring to his attention the illegal activities of “chit funds”.

State minister for women and social welfare Sabitri Mitra said Abu Hasem’s letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had lauded the works and activities of Saradha Group chairman Sudipto Sen.

“When Abu Hasem had submitted a written complaint to the Prime Minister on chit fund, he was not in the minister’s seat then. However, later he withdrew that complaint and had sent another letter to the Prime Minister. In the second letter, he had certified Sudipto Sen as a gentleman and a good businessman and had appreciated the activities of the Saradha Group,” said Mitra, who is also the Malda district Trinamul president.

“We want an investigation into why he had withdrawn his complaint and certified the person (Sen) and his group. If found guilty, he should be arrested as per law.”

According to Mitra, Saradha Group had collected around Rs 200 crore from Malda district.

“From a remote village like Pathanpara in Manikchak, the group has collected Rs 50 lakh from the poor residents in the name of higher returns. The state government is taking action against the group. We have also learnt that the group had bought several acres of land in Malda. Such assets have been identified and we will soon send a detailed list to the state government,” she said.

At a time when finger is being pointed at Trinamul for its leaders’ association with the Group, Mitra stressed that none of the party’s workers from Malda was involved with any chit fund company.

“If any of them are found to be involved, the party will take stern steps against him or her,” she added.

The Saradha Group has four offices in Malda — in Nazrul Sarani, Jhaljhalia, Singatala and Station Road. All the offices have been shut for the past two-three days.

Tourism minister and Englishbazar municipality chairman Krishnendu Narayan Choudhury said the civic body had not granted trade licence to any “chit fund” companies. “Even then, several of these companies are operating in town. The district administration has been asked to take steps against such enterprises.”

In reply to Mitra’s allegation, Abu Hasem said: “I find no rationality for the demand to arrest me. I was the first MP to draw the attention of the Prime Minister to the “chit fund” issue. I had written the second letter to rectify some errors made in the first,” said Abu Hasem, who is also the Malda district Congress president.

“The Saradha Group owner Sudipto Sen had been to our house in Kotwali but I was never associated with the group.”

Defamation suit threat

The Darjeeling Trinamul Congress said it would serve a defamation notice on former minister and CPM leader Asok Bhattacharya for tarnishing the image of north Bengal development minister Gautam Deb.

Bhattacharya had yesterday demanded that Deb be removed from his post because of his association with the Saradha Group’s deposit scheme.