Why did Rose Valley scam accused Kundu pay Mamata a courtesy call?

What did the Rose Valley scam accused Gautam Kundu reveal during his questioning with the CBI? Scroll down to find out

The Trinamool Congress has cried foul after its two MPs Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Tapas Pal were arrested for their alleged links to the Rose Valley scam. Following the arrest of prime accused Gautam Kundu in 2015, officials of both the Enforcement Directorate and Central Bureau of Investigation questioned him in which he revealed about a meeting he had with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

This was the second time that such an allegation was being made about Mamata. First it was Kunal Ghosh arrested in connection with the Saradha scam who said that Mamata had met with Sudipta Sen at Deolo. He sought a probe into the meeting between Sen, the prime accused in the Saradha scam and Mamata.

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.

When Kundu met Mamata:

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.

OneIndia News