 "Bengal raises taxes on cigarettes to fund relief for Saradha depositors")
"I am sorry but I have to do this," Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said. By increasing taxes on cigarettes, the state plans to raise about Rs 150 crore. It was not, however, clear where the rest of the corpus would come from.
The state government's balm came on a day when an 18-page letter from Saradha Group CMD Sudipta Sen to CBI named two TMC members of Parliament - Kunal Ghosh and Srinjoy Bose - embarrassing the state government. The Opposition parties, while taking pot shots at the TMC government, floated some conspiracy theories, too.
CPI(M) said the letter was aimed at obfuscating the situation by dragging people across political parties. Party leaders also said the MPs named in the letter were small fry.
"This is a got-up case. I am told the TMC leadership dictated this letter. They wanted to get rid of those two MPs," Opposition leader Surjya Kanta Mishra said.
Asked about Ghosh, who had recently resigned as the CEO of Saradha Media Group, and Bose, editor of a Bengali daily, Banerjee said: "One journalist is being targetted... There are so many journalists. There is no use of identifying one channel and one newspaper."
"If any TMC MP has committed an offence, the law will take its own course," she said, accusing CPI(M) of politicking over a people's issue.
Pressure had been mounting on the party leadership to weed out people who had links with Saradha Group. It was believed more skeletons would tumble out of the Saradha cupboard if the central agencies were given access to Sen.
The I-T department would also probe its investments and finances. Showcause notices for production of documents and recording of statements of promoters, investors and prominent agents in this case could also be issued soon.
Meanwhile, Sen and two of his aides - arrested in Sonmarg yesterday - were flown to Kolkata after the West Bengal Police was granted four days' transit remand by a court at Ganderbal in Jammu & Kashmir. The state police also froze 35 bank accounts of Sen, while some 20 cars were seized.