If last year they had called her 'Mamatamoyi Mamata' (the compassionate one), this time they hailed her as 'Agnishikha Mamata' (the fiery one). That is the avatar the chief minister seems to have donned in the face of the Saradha probe, though a mellow Mamata Banerjee started the year on a cultural note while inaugurating the 19th chapter of Jatra Utsab at Barasat's Kachhari Maidan.
Hours after the CBI alleged in court that her minister Madan Mitra had taken 'active part' in influencing people to invest in Saradha's deposit-mobilisation schemes, Mamata was seen hooked to her cellphone at the festival. She took a break from her phone for some cha and adda with members of the jatra fraternity before lighting the inaugural lamp, giving away awards to 13 veterans, unveiling a plan to create a databank of jatra artistes and even mentioning Marx. Yes, you read that right. Talking about jatra artiste Shantigopal Roy, after whom one of the awards is named, Mamata said: 'Shantigopal Roy used to play different roles on stage.... When he used to play Karl Marx, it used to seem like Marx himself was here.' Picture by Pradip Sanyal
Calcutta, Jan. 2: The CBI today alleged in court that Madan Mitra had taken 'active part' in influencing people to invest in deposit-mobilising schemes of the Saradha Group and money had been transferred to the minister's account.
'Madan Gopal Mitra took active part with Sudipta Sen to induce people to invest in the Saradha Group and huge funds were transferred to his (Mitra's) account,' CBI counsel Partha Sarathi Dutta told the judge at the CBI special court in Alipore.
Mitra, accused in a Saradha Realty case, denied the allegations and told the judge he would accept the death penalty if the charges were proved. The minister has been booked for criminal conspiracy, cheating, misappropriation of funds and receiving undue financial benefits from Saradha. The charges carry a maximum punishment of seven years in jail.
Conjecture in political circles and Saradha's growth graph had pointed to how the company had allegedly milked its perceived closeness to a section of Trinamul leaders to lure people into investing in its cash-collection schemes.
Arguing against Mitra's bail plea, Dutta told the court that the sports and transport minister was in a 'position of high power' and could influence the witnesses.
Acting chief judicial magistrate Manikuntala Roy remanded Mitra in judicial custody till January 16. The minister's lawyers demanded that the CBI point out to the judge the section of the case diary mentioning that cash transactions had taken place between Mitra and Sen.
'A serious charge has been levelled,' said Ashok Mukherjee, Mitra's lawyer. 'The investigating officer of the CBI is present in court. Let him show you where it has been mentioned in the case diary that funds were transferred from Sen's account to that of Mitra's,' Mukherjee told judge Roy.
The investigating officer placed the case diary before the judge and pointed out the relevant portion. As judge Roy read, some lawyers alleged that the case against Mitra was politically motivated.
At this point, minister Mitra, who was sitting in a chair in the dock, expressed his wish to speak. When the judge agreed, the minister stood up and said the allegations levelled against him were false.
'If it is proved that I received even a penny from the Saradha Group or if the CBI can show there was any cash transaction between me and Sudipta Sen, I will accept death by hanging,' Mitra said.
The minister said he never influenced people to invest in Saradha and claimed he met Sen for the first time in 2009 to urge him to pay the dues of farmers whose land had been purchased for a real estate project of the company in his constituency - Bishnupur, South 24-Parganas.
'I was then not aware that it was an NBFC (non-banking finance company) or a chit fund company. I was probably in college when the Sanchaita scam happened in Bengal and so had no clue (about how cash-collection companies functioned),' the minister said.
'Some youths in my constituency told me that this company had purchased large parcels of land for Saradha Gardens and was not paying the dues of the farmers. It was then that I got in touch with Sudipta Sen for the first time. He said his company was small. I told him 'today you are small but you will become big one day'. I also told him that if he needed legal assistance, I would try to help him as the local MLA. I had no further interaction with Sen,' Mitra told the court.
Later, CBI sources said the agency had reasons to believe that Mitra had visited Saradha Gardens on several occasions and was 'well aware' that his presence there would 'help the Saradha Group influence prospective investors'.
The sources said Mitra had also addressed Saradha programmes at Netaji Indoor Stadium and the Science City auditorium.
