Saradha scam: CBI questions Mamata Banerjee's aide

Kolkata, Jan 31: The CBI has questioned a close aide of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Manik Majumdar, in connection with the Saradha ponzi scam, officials said on Thursday.

The agency had given a notice to Majumdar, who has been Banerjee's secretary since her early days in politics, to appear before it, the officials said in New Delhi. But he had expressed his inability to come to the agency's Salt Lake city office in Kolkata citing his age and health, they said.

Considering his application, the CBI team reached Majumdar's residence near the famous Kalighat temple in Kolkata to question him and record his statement on Thursday, they said.

The sources said the CBI suspected that Majumdar was a key player in managing funds of the party who had knowledge about the purchase of Banerjee's paintings by Sudipta Sen, the promoter of Saradha group. The Supreme Court had ordered a probe into the multi-crore-rupee Saradha scam and transferred the case to CBI in 2014.

Thousands of investors were left in the lurch by the scam and it led to the arrest of many leaders and ministers of the state's ruling Trinamool Congress. All of them are now out on bail. Saradha group founder Sudipta Sen and his associate Debjani Mukherjee, arrested in 2013 from Kashmir, are in custody.

PTI