Trinamool leader attempts suicide in jail

Kunal Ghosh, suspended Trinamool Congress party member of parliament, jailed in the Saradha chit fund scam case,  allegedly tried to commit suicide in prison on Thursday night, West Bengal police said yesterday.

Ghosh, a former journalist and once considered close to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, took 58 sleeping pills in his prison cell at the Presidency Correctional Home in Kolkata where he has been lodged since his arrest in November last year.

His stomach was reportedly washed and he is out of danger but in a serious state, say sources.

Saradha Group, a financial organisation, had allegedly duped lakhs of small investors in West Bengal by promising 40 percent returns for their investments in Ponzi schemes.

Indian media have recently reported that a portion of the scam money was allegedly pumped into Bangladesh for terror activities. However, India's Central Bureau of Investigation, which is investigating the scam, ruled out such diversion.

Ghosh was the chief of Saradha Group's media operations.

On Monday, he had threatened in court that he would take his own life if the "real culprits" behind the scam were not arrested.

"Investigation is being influenced. It is not acceptable that I will rot in jail while those involved will roam freely," Ghosh had said.

Ghosh is the only Trinamool leader who was named in CBI's first charge-sheet in the scam case.