I have proof against Mamata: Kunal
I have proof against Mamata: Kunal
Suspended Trinamool Congress MP Kunal Ghosh on Monday told a city sessions court that he had documentary evidence against West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and party's national secretary Mukul Roy in the Saradha case and wanted to hand it over to CBI.
Ghosh urged the court to pass directives in this regard, reports The Times of India.
"If anyone has derived the most benefit from Saradha Media, then it is the chief minister," Ghosh said in the court, repeating what he had told journalists earlier. "Mamata Banerjee and Mukul Roy are also involved... I have specific information, I can provide this if I am questioned by CBI," he said in the court of metropolitan magistrate Arvind Mishra.
According to sources, Kunal has already handed over a video clip, gathered through a "sting operation" in 2011, to "one of the central investigating agencies". Sources said Kunal had video footage of a meeting between the Trinamool top leadership and Rose Valley chairman Gautam Kundu and Saradha kingpin Sudipta Sen.
The court consented to Kunal's plea for deposing before CBI and asked the agency to get his statement recorded in judicial custody. In September, Kunal had made a similar plea in court to get his statement recorded by CBI under Section 164 CrPC. CBI officers, who were given discretionary power to record Kunal's statement, did not do so as they had done so earlier when Kunal was in Dum Dum jail.
In his 91-page tell-all letter Kunal had mentioned the meeting between a senior Trinamool leader and Sudipta Sen at a tourist lodge in Delo, Kalimpong. Kunal had also claimed that Sudipta was "advised" to invest in joint venture projects with the state government. Kunal's claims were corroborated later when Enforcement Directorate got hold of details of the deals with state government agencies clinched after the meeting. Investigators found that Sudipta had paid around Rs 30 lakh to West Bengal Financial Corporation to get a project in Murti, North Dinajpur, worth more than Rs 1.5 crore.
On Monday, Kunal made an oblique remark at the prolonged hospital stay of transport minister Madan Mitra and Trinamool MP Srinjay Bose, both arrested in the Saradha case. "I am in jail, while someone else is in hotel," Kunal said. He was treated in the Alipore jail hospital when he fell ill after a hunger strike.
Kunal claimed that one of the grounds on which his bail prayers have been opposed by CBI every time is that he was an influential person and that he could tamper with evidence and influence witnesses. "For those who have political power and money, there are one set of rules, while I am given a shove whenever I try to talk to the media," he said.