Mithun surrenders Rs 1.2 cr received from Saradha to ED

The actor's lawyers and other representatives reached the probe agency's office and handed over a Demand Draft to the investigating officer

Trinamool Congress MP and actor Mithun Chakraborty today surrendered to Enforcement Directorate (ED) an amount of about Rs 1.2 crore that he had received from scam-hit Saradha group of companies for being its brand ambassador.

Sources said a team of lawyers and other representatives of the actor reached the probe agency's office at Salt Lake here and handed over a Demand Draft (DD) to the investigating officer (IO) of the case.

"This was part of Chakraborty's earlier commitment that he would return the funds that he had received from the group. The DD has been given to the IO of the Saradha scam probe case," sources said.

They added that the agency is satisfied with the said action and the statement recorded by the actor-politician regarding his role in the operations of the group, which has now become defunct in the wake of allegations against it of perpetrating a large-scale chit-fund scam in West Bengal and other states.

During his last questioning by ED here in May, Chakraborty had provided the agency sleuths with a number of DVDs, CDs and scripts that he had got as part of being the brand ambassador of the Saradha group.

The actor had done so to back his claim to investigators that his association with Saradha Group was "purely professional" and that he had no intentions of cheating or duping anyone.

"He had told investigators that he had no inkling about any sort of scam that was being perpetrated. The actor had submitted all his personal and official records to the agency in this regard," the sources said.