Paid money to Adhir, Adhikaris and Mukul: Saradha case main accused

Saradha Group owner Sudipta Sen, who is the main accused in the multi-crore chit fund case, on Thursday alleged he paid money to West Bengal Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Suvendu Adhikari and his younger brother Soumendu when the duo were in the Trinamool Congress (TMC).

Sen also named Mukul Roy, one of the founder members of TMC who joined the BJP in 2017 but returned to TMC last year, as a recipient of funds from the Saradha Group.

Amid allegations of involvement of several TMC leaders in the case, over a dozen party MPs and MLAs have been questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) so far in the case.

Sen, who was arrested in 2013, made the allegations before the media while he was being taken to Bankshall Court in Kolkata for hearing in a case related to Saradha Tours and Travels, one of the companies he owned.

“I wrote two letters (to the state government) naming not only Suvendu Adhikari but also Mukul Roy and Adhir Chowdhury,” he told reporters.

“Our company was setting up a high-rise building at Contai town (in East Midnapore district). We gave ₹90 lakh to Contai municipality as asked by Suvendu Adhikari. But he manipulated the project. His brother Soumendu was also involved. The building plan was not passed,” he added.

Though Sen did not mention when he paid the money and when the project was taken up, it appeared as though he was referring to the time when Contai municipality was controlled by the Adhikari brothers for the TMC after the party came to power in the state in 2011.

Contai is the hometown of the Adhikaris. Suvendu’s father Sisir Adhikari and brother Divyendu are currently TMC Lok Sabha members from East Midnapore.

The Saradha chit fund case involves an estimated ₹2,460 crore that was raised from around 1.8 million depositors from West Bengal, Assam, Jharkhand, Odisha, and Chhattisgarh. It came to light in 2012 when depositors started filing police complaints.

TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh has already spent over two years in jail as he headed the group’s media division.

Sen, who was the chairman of the Saradha group, was arrested by a special investigation team (SIT) of Bengal Police from a hotel in Kashmir in 2013 while he was on the run. He has been in custody since.

Suvendu Adhikari, who was a cabinet minister in the TMC government from 2016 to 2020 joined the BJP in December 2020. He is currently the leader of opposition in the state assembly.

Soumendu Adhikari, who was the chairman of Contai municipality till 2021, followed suit and joined the BJP in 2021.

Both Mukul Roy and Suvendu Adhikari were named in the first information report (FIR) of the CBI which took over the case in 2014 on the directions of the Supreme Court.

The Enforcement Directorate is also conducting a parallel probe in the case.

Mukul Roy, who has been indisposed for a long time, told reporters through his representatives that he has no knowledge of what Sen said.

Congress’s Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said he will file a defamation suit against Sen.

“Sudipta Sen had made the same allegation earlier as well. I had sent him a notice for defaming me. He has not replied to that notice till now. Didi (Mamata Banerjee) is using Sen against me since I have a clean image but he needs more training,” he said.

HT tried to reach out to Suvendu Adhikari for a reaction but did not get one immediately. There was no reaction from his brother too till Thursday evening.

A fresh political row erupted across the state over Sen’s allegations, which came two days after a TMC delegation, comprising senior leaders and ministers, met governor Jagdeep Dhankhar over Suvendu Adhikari’s alleged involvement in the Saradha case.

The TMC demanded that Suvendu Adhikari be questioned by CBI.

“When so many people are facing CBI investigation, why should Suvendu be an exception? Is it because he joined the BJP to protect himself from the probe?” Ghosh said.

State BJP chief spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya alleged Sen was tutored by the TMC government to implicate Suvendu Adhikari.

“This is a sub judice matter and an accused cannot make such random statements before the media. The same police that prevented Kunal Ghosh from making media statements against the TMC while he was facing trial are now allowing Sen to speak freely. This is a political conspiracy,” he said.