Meeting with Mamata a courtesy call: Rose Valley head

Rose Valley group chairman Goutam Kundu Tuesday confirmed that actor and Trinamool Congress MP Tapas Pal was a director in his film company and admitted that he had called on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at Delo in Darjeeling district in 2012.

Kundu, who met Enforcement Directorate officials during the day in connection with an ongoing probe into alleged ponzi schemes run by companies of the group, termed the meeting with Banerjee a "courtesy call".

"I was holidaying. The honourable chief minister was also in Delo (of Kalimpong sub-division). So I paid a courtesy call," said Kundu.

Kundu said the editor of the channel run by his group had called him to greet Banerjee on the occasion of her assuming the chief minister's post.

Asked why he went to greet the chief minister 10 months after she took over the state's reins, Kundu said: "I am the owner of a media channel. I can meet any person. Why are you asking the same question repeatedly?"

To another query, Kundu said: "Tapas Pal was a director in my films division."

However, Kundu could not give the amount paid to Pal by the group. "You can check it with my accounts department," he said.

The Enforcement Directorate had November last year issued an order attaching around 2,600 bank accounts of the group across the country.

Later, a division bench of the Calcutta High Court put a stay on the search and seizure order of the Enforcement Directorate.

Suspended Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha member Kunal Ghosh, now under arrest in connection with the Saradha scam, as also opposition leaders of the state have over the past two years repeatedly attacked Banerjee over her purported meeting with Kundu and Saradha Group head Sudipta Sen at Delo on the sidelines of her visit to north Bengal.