The CBI has arrested the director of a Calcutta company that dealt with agricultural products, for his alleged involvement in a deposit mobilisation scam.

The probe into the alleged scam began nearly six years ago, in June 2020.

Officials said Tanmoy Mirdha was arrested from Brahma Nagar in Nadia based on specific inputs about his whereabouts in connection with the scam.

A section of Trinamool Congress leaders alleged that Mirdha’s arrest on Thursday was timed with Union home minister Amit Shah’s arrival on Friday night.

“This is the CBI in election mode,” one leader said.

The central agency said in a release: “The accused, director of M/s Express Cultivation Limited, Kolkata, along with others, allegedly cheated the public by fraudulently collecting ₹2.1 crore on the pretext of investment and misappropriation of funds.”

In 2020, the CBI began investigating a multi-crore scam involving deposit mobilisation companies in Bengal and Odisha following an order by the Supreme Court.

The CBI filed a chargesheet in the case two years later, in February 2022.

“The accused did not join the investigation and was declared absconding. A warrant of arrest was issued against him by the court of the additional chief metropolitan
magistrate, Kolkata,” the CBI said.

Like several other deposit mobilisation companies, Mirdha’s company would allegedly lure investors with regular returns at high interest against initial investments and then stop, a CBI officer said on Friday.

Besides Express Cultivation, Mirdha was allegedly the director of at least four other companies — Express
Mutual Benefit India Limited, Express Cure and Care India Limited, Express Cine
Media Marketing Limited and Nation Industries Chamber of
Commerce — a CBI officer added.

The probe into the alleged activities of the deposit mobilisation companies in Bengal has seen several Trinamool leaders arrested.

On Friday, a section of the party’s leadership said Mirdha’s arrest after a gap of almost four years since the first chargesheet was submitted was another “agency
attempt to play a proactive role before the Assembly elections”.

“We have been harping about this for years that the CBI focuses on Bengal only ahead of any election
in the state. While the accused is not a party functionary, a question remains about how the agency found him now,” a senior Trinamool leader
said.