Mamata’s PM dream and how Rose Valley, Saradha kingpins used to their advantage

New Delhi, Feb 05: The Saradha and Rose Valley scam are back in the news with an unprecedented incident in which, CBI officials were detained by the Kolkata Police. While the CBI has always been under attack since it took over the probe, this incident was a new low where the investigation of this scam is concerned.

When the CBI began its probe, it learnt that the kingpins of the Saradha and Rose Valley scams- Sudipta Sen and Gautam Kundu had both met with Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee.

CBI officials say that they did not find any direct evidence of the meetings and the scam, but added that both the kingpins had used this meeting to their advantage. Both Sen and Kundu told investigators that they met with with Mamata at Kalimpong's Deolo.

When Kundu was questioned, he said that he had meeting with Mamata at Deolo as well. Investigating officers say that the meeting was a routine one. It was under our scanner, but it appears that Kundu was trying to be in the good books of the chief minister, the officer added.

There were two separate meetings in 2012 of Mamata with Sen and Kundu. According to investigators, Sen was trying to push his own agenda with the promise that he would promote Mamata as a PM candidate after he purchases news channels.

Kundu too said during his questioning he had met Mamata in the capacity of a news channel owner. He said that one member of one of his news channels insisted that he met with Mamata. "It was a courtesy call and one should not read much into it," he told the Enforcement Directorate.

Back in 2012, Mamata, according to many, was nurturing an ambition of becoming the prime minister. Several persons close to her felt that in order to push this ambition forward, they must have news channels under their control. This was made known to both Sen and Kundu who owned channels.

Investigating agencies feel that at some level Sen and Kundu knew that Mamata was aspiring ambitions of becoming the PM. These were meetings of 2012 and many in the TMC had told her that she should aim to become the PM.

A host of TMC leaders then decided that the campaign to make her the PM must kickstart immediately and it was important that they had news channels under their control in order to further her cause. People like Sen realised her ambition and decided to meet and tell her that with the news channels he would purchase they would run a Mamata for PM campaign.

While it appeared impressive to the TMC leadership, Sen and the rest also managed to remain in the top circles of the ruling party and go about their business without being detected.