Kunal Ghosh video stings Trinamool

THT, Kolkata: In a 36-minute video recorded earlier and broadcast on a local Bengali channel on Tuesday, arrested Rajya Sabha MP and suspended Trinamool Congress member Kunal Ghosh put his party in great embarrassment by directly linking chief minister Mamata Banerjee and Trinamool’s national general secretary Mukul Roy, another Rajya Sabha MP, with the Saradha chit fund scam that has been rocking the state for the last eight months.

Kunal wrapped up his speech in the video by claiming that the public image of Mamata would change in a few years.

Kunal made several charges against Mamata in his latest outburst — that came two days after his arrest in connection with the scam — from recommending hefty donations for Durga Puja organisers and football clubs to abetting extortion by her party MPs to not initiating any action against the Saradha group despite being alerted by the Union corporate affairs ministry about the business house.

The controversial MP also “revealed” how Mamata met Saradha chief Sudipta Sen and Rose Valley (another deposittaking company) chief Gautam Kundu at Deolo near Kalimpong where Sen, according to Kunal, lay out the details of his media plan to her and “promised to support her in realising her prime ministerial ambitions”.

Kunal referred to Mamata even while saying how Suvendu Adhikary, Trinamool’s Lok Sabha MP, allegedly extorted money from Sudipta Sen when Sen was implementing a real estate project in Contai in East Midnapore district.

“Sen told me that members of the Adhikary family had already taken about Rs. 3.5 crore from him and were still asking for more, which would take the total amount to more than Rs. 4 crore. I asked the chief minister whether Sen should pay again and she said that he did not need to pay more,” Kunal alleged in the video.

Kunal even suggested that Banerjee recommended various clubs, including one Sanghashree, to Sen for a hefty donation for Durga Puja and another club — which is now playing football in the Kolkata first division league — for monetary help.

“Facts are completely in contrary to the public perception about her and it is dangerous for the people,” Kunal said, suggesting that Mamata’s honesty was questionable. He added, “This perception will change in a few years.”

Kunal also alleged that Mukul Roy “wasted a few days” in April before asking Bidhannagar Police commissioner Rajiv Kumar to start tracking Sudipta Sen when he was travelling across North India in a bid to escape the closing police dragnet.

“He (Kunal) has already been arrested. The law will take its own course,” was the cryptic reply of Mukul Roy soon after 12 names appeared for a brief period on Kunal’s Facebook account on the night of his arrest.

Kunal shot back at Trinamool leaders who have been insisting that law will take its own course by saying, “Those who are shielding themselves are insisting that law will take its own course. How is that possible?”

“I’m being blamed for everything though I served only in Sen’s media venture whereas, actually, the entire party benefited from the piles of Saradha’s cash.

All the media initiatives of Saradha were meant to serve the interest of Trinamool Congress,” Kunal said in the video.

The journalist-turned-MP also named transport minister Madan Mitra, Bidhannagar Municipality chair man Krishna Chakraborty and her businessman husband Samir Chakraborty, former Rajya Sabha MP Swapan Sadhan Bose, Rajya Sabha MP Srinjay Bose and his brother Soumik Bose, Rajya Sabha MP and businessman KD Singh, businessman Asif Khan and for mer IPS officer Rajat Majumdar for their complicity in the Saradha scam.

“I believe Mukul Roy will be able to help the investigations because he is close to Majumdar, Singh and Khan and is likely to be in a position to shed light on Saradha’s funds,” he said.

The transport minister did not make any specific comment on Kunal’s allegations. “Mamata Banerjee does not need Sudipta Sen’s money to become prime minister. She will become so with the people’s mandate,” he said.