Bengal minister out of hospital, ready for CBI quizzing

Discharged from the state-run SSKM Hospital, West Bengal Transport Minister Madan Mitra Wednesday said he was ready to face CBI grilling if and when the agency calls him.

Mitra was summoned by the Central Bureau of Investigation for questioning in the multi-crore-rupee Saradha scam, but could not appear due to illness.

After a brief stay at a private hospital, Mitra was admitted to the SSKM Hospital Nov 20. He was discharged Wednesday after a medical board found him healthy.

"Whenever the CBI calls me, I will go and tell them whatever I have to. Neither my party (Trinamool Congress) nor I ever said we would not cooperate with the CBI," Mitra said after reaching his home from the hospital.

"If it were not so, then our party leaders like (textile minister) Shyamapada Mukherjee or parliamentarians Mithun Chakrabarty or Arpita Ghosh would not have answered queries of the CBI or ED," he said.

The CBI and the Enforcement Directorate among themselves interrogated and arrested a host of Trinamool leaders, including several parliamentarians.

"The CBI had summoned me to appear Nov 21, but I was sick and so could not appear. Today (Wednesday), I am feeling slightly better. In fact, I told the medical board that I am feeling better and if you wish, you can release me. Accordingly, I was released and now I am at my home," he added.

The CBI has already grilled, among others, Mitra's former confidential assistant Bapi Karim.

Mitra's son Swarup, who was allegedly on the board of directors of a ponzi firm, is also said to be under the scanner of the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO). It has ordered a probe into the company's affairs.

Mitra has denied allegations of him or his son being involved in any wrongdoing and threatened to quit as a minister if his or his son's links to Saradha or any other ponzi company are established.