CBI quizzes Mamata aide in Saradha scam

The Central Bureau of Investigation on Thursday quizzed a long-time aide of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in connection with the Saradha ponzi scam, a spokesperson for the agency said.

A group of CBI officials turned up at the residence of Manik Majumdar in South Kolkata's Kalighat and questioned him.

The CBI spokesperson said Majumdar, Banerjee's secretary, was earlier given a notice for appearing before the investigators at the agency's office in Salt Lake in connection with the ongoing investigation.

"We had given him a notice previously to appear at our Salt Lake office. But he said due to health issues, he could not come to our office. He requested us to come to his house," the spokesperson told IANS over phone.

"So our people went to his house and recorded his statement," he said.

The multi-billion rupee Saradha scandal came to light in April, 2013, when the Saradha Group - owned by Sudipta Sen - downed shutters across Bengal after being unable to pay back the depositors.

The group had raised huge money, mainly from poor people who, lured by the promise of huge returns, parked their life's savings with the firm.

Sen and several of his cronies are now behind bars.

Following an order by the Supreme Court in 2014, the CBI has been probing the ponzi scam case.

--IANS

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