Saradha scam: CBI grills Trinamool MP Suvendu Adhikari

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Wednesday questioned Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha member from West Bengal Suvendu Adhikari in connection with the multi-crore Saradha scam.

"I was summoned as a witness and whatever I had to say, I have said that to the CBI sleuths," Adhikari, who represents Tamluk constituency in East Midnapore district, told media persons after his over an hour-long grilling.

Adhikari refused to comment about former Saradha employee Arvind Singh Chauhan's claim that company chief and scam kingpin Sudipta Sen had met him days before he escaped to Kashmir.

"I don't want to comment about a person who has spent 11 months in jail," said Adhikari, who is mulling to sue Chauhan for defamation.

Released on bail, Chauhan Tuesday claimed that Sen had met Trinamool general secretary Mukul Roy and Adhikari in April 2013.

Chauhan, along with Sen and close aide Debjani Mukherjee, was arrested from Sonmarg in Jammu and Kashmir in April shortly after the scam to light.

Probing the scam, the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate, between them, have already questioned a number of Trinamool MPs, including Arpita Ghosh, Mithun Chakraborty, Srinjoy Bose and state Textile Minister Shyamapada Mukherjee.

Suspended Trinamool Rajya Sabha member Kunal Ghosh, who headed Saradha's media arm, is already behind bars since November 2013 for his alleged complicity in the scam. The CBI also recently arrested party leader and former IPS officer Rajat Majumdar.