Bengal chit fund scam: CBI arrests bizman close to Trinamool leader

A businessman said to be close to a Trinamool Congress leader and the chairman of Halisahar Municipality in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district was arrested in the multi- crore Sanmarg Cooperative chit fund scam, said the CBI on Wednesday.

The arrest was made on Tuesday night. The businessman, Sanjay Singh, was said to be close to Raju Sahani, the chairman of Halisahar Municipality in North 24 Parganas district, who was arrested on September 2. The central agency sleuths arrested Sahani because of his alleged involvement with the same chit fund entity and also recovered Rs 80 lakh in cash from his possession.

Sources said that Sanjay Singh was summoned to the CBI's office at the central government office (CGO) complex at Salt Lake in the northern outskirts of Kolkata on Tuesday afternoon for questioning. After over ten hours of marathon questions, the interrogating officials found a lot of inconsistencies in his statements following which he was arrested on Tuesday night.

It is learnt that Singh will be presented at a special court of the CBI in Asansol in West Burdwan district on Wednesday afternoon only and the CBI counsel there will seek his custody for further interrogation.

Earlier on September 2, while arresting Raju Sahani, the CBI sleuths traced a bank account held by him in Bangkok and preliminary investigation has revealed that huge amounts were transferred to this bank account from the chit fund entity.

CBI also informed the court then that Sahani had held the bank account in Bangkok jointly with one Soumyraup Bhowmik, the absconding founder of Sanmarg Cooperative. The agency also claimed that their investigation officials have also got some definite proof that Sahani provided safe shelter to Bhowmik at his residence at a point of time.

Sources said that there were enough reasons to believe that a portion of the chit fund proceeds were also invested in the multiple businesses run by Sanjay Singh.