Saradha scam: CBI files first chargesheet, names Sudipta Sen, Debjani Mukherjee, Kunal Ghosh

Kolkata, Oct 22: The CBI on Wednesday filed its first chargesheet in the Saradha scam, naming scam kingpin Sudipta Sen, his close aide Debjani Mukherjee and suspended Trinamool Congress parliamentarian Kunal Ghosh.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed the chargesheet in the Saradha Tours and Travels case before the court of the metropolitan magistrate here.

"The chargesheet has been filed against Sen, Mukherjee, Ghosh and four Saradha Group Companies and Strategy Media, a company owned by Ghosh, under sections 120 B, 409 and 420 Indian Penal Code and sections 4 and 6 of the Prize Chit and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act 1978," a CBI official said.

The Saradha Tours and Travels was allegedly favoured in getting a contract from the IRCTC for providing logistics support to the "Bharat Tirth" project announced in the 2010-11 railway budget by the then railway minister Mamata Banerjee.

This was the first chargesheet submitted by the investigation agency after it took over the probe of the multi-crore-rupee scam following a directive by the Supreme Court in May.

While Sen, the Saradha promoter along with Mukherjee were arrested from Sonmarg in Jammu and Kashmir in April 2013 shortly after the scam into light, suspended Trinamool Rajya Sabha member Ghosh, who headed Saradha's media arm, has been behind bars since November 2013 for his alleged complicity in the scam.

The CBI has questioned and arrested many high profile people, including Trinamool leader and former IPS officer Rajat Majumdar.

IANS