Suspended Trinamool MP Ghosh to be quizzed by police again

Hours after he was quizzed by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office, suspended Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha member Kunal Ghosh was Friday summoned for questioning by the West Bengal Police yet again in connection with the Saradha Group chit fund scam.

Ghosh, allegedly involved in the multi-crore chit fund scam, would Saturday meet officers of the Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate probing the biggest financial scandal to hit the state.

"I have been summoned by the Bidhannagar police and will be meeting them tomorrow (Saturday) in the afternoon," said Ghosh, who returned to the city after being interrogated by SFIO officials in New Delhi Thursday and Friday.

"The SFIO had some quarries regarding my tenure in the Saradha Group and I tried to answer their questions to the best of my abilities," Ghosh told IANS.

The journalist-turned MP, who was earlier suspended by the Trinamool for his "anti-party" activities, has been questioned multiple times by the West Bengal Police with the frequency of interrogation increasing more after his suspension.

Saradha promoter Sudipta Sen, who is now behind bars, had accused several prominent leaders from various parties including Ghosh of complicity in the scam.

Ghosh, who earlier headed Saradha's media arm, has repeatedly claimed he was being made a scapegoat and demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation probe.

While the CBI has not formally taken over the Saradha probe, other central agencies like the SFIO and Enforcement Directorate and market regulator Security and Exchange Board of India are probing the matter.

The Saradha scandal came to light in April. The company closed shop across Bengal after being unable to pay back the depositors -- mainly poor people who, lured by the promise of huge returns, parked their life's savings with the firm.

As the company went bust, there was a spate of suicides by agents and investors and protests across the state.