 "Chief's letter muddies others")
An 18-page letter, purportedly written by the Saradha group promoter, Sudipta Sen, to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), has dragged in not only two Trinamool Congress (TMC) members of Parliament but also several political parties into the controversy over the Bengal chit fund's operations.
Absolving himself of all misdeeds, the letter (Business Standard has access to it) lists people who'd allegedly taken huge sums of money on some pretext or the other and "used" Sen. The CBI is learnt to have sent the letter to the Calcutta police commissioner.
The "suicide note" (the letter has Sen saying he'd be committing suicide any time) explains how and why the Saradha promoter entered media, which he felt was a mistake. Sen held TMC MPs Kunal Ghosh and Srinjoy Bose for the media mess. (SARADHA’S SCHEME OF THINGS)
Thereafter, a deal was struck with Pratidin, another media publication. According to the agreement, Pratidin would be paid Rs 60 lakh every month and Ghosh would be appointed chief executive officer at a salary of Rs 15 lakh a month. They also decided to make actor Mithun Chakraborty brand ambassador for Rs 20 lakh. The letter, however, clarified that Chakraborty did not participate in any function, apart from one talk show.
The letter stated, "Pratidin has also given me an assurance that on execution of this agreement, they will protect my business from the government i.e. state and central government, and I will be able to get a smooth passage, and they assured me that they have very close connection with the present CM of West Bengal, i.e. Ms Mamata Banerjee. For the last two years, Pratidin have taken from me, represented by Srinjoy Bose, the managing director of Pratidin Publication and Pratidin Television Media Pvt Ltd, a sum of Rs 20 crore (approx); most of the payment made by cheque or RTGS. (At) Various time(s), they have taken cash under various causes shown to me and also apart from that for running the channel for the last three years, including the payment of ISRO and MSO (cable operators), not less than Rs 2 crore per month."
It then went on to state how things took a different turn when Kunal Ghosh, along with a few miscreants, allegedly forced Sen to sign some documents and letters. "I signed them without going through the contents thereof and after they have gone, I read and found that they have got me to sign as if I have sold them Channel 10 for a meagre amount of Rs 55 lakh, which can never happen. They also got me to sign as if I have transferred them my Urdu newspaper, Kalom, which I have never done. "The letter comes as a big embarrassment to the TMC government. However, conspiracy theories are also doing the rounds. Chief minister Banerjee rejected allegations against her party but promised to take action against the guilty. The Opposition parties saw it as a "got-up" case. "I am told that the TMC leadership dictated this letter. They just wanted to get rid of these two MPs and, hence, the letter mentions them," said Surjya Kanta Mishra, leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly.
The letter also drags in people across political parties. Finance Minister, P Chidambaram's wife, Nalini Chidambaram's name finds a mention. She came into the picture as an advocate for Manoranjana Sinh, who wanted to set up a channel in the northeast, according to the letter. Repeated calls and text messages to Nalini Chidambaram got no response.
The letter also mentions Debabrata Sarkar, alias Nitu, the de facto secretary of the East Bengal Club, who allegedly assured Sen that he would manage the latter's problems with Sebi through chairman U K Sinha and other persons with whom they had intimate connections. And, apparently, with the help of President Pranab Mukherjee, who was close to Nitu's associate, Sanjay Agarwal, and his son, Sandip Agarwal.
Sarkar dismissed the letter and said it was baseless. Sanjay Agarwal was also said to be close to the Left. The letter has some annexures to which Business Standard does not have access.
"What they have told last, that I have dues of Rs 2,200 crore up to the year 2026 and within this, the recurring deposit will be deposited by the money marketing leaders as it is running in instalments i.e. not less than Rs 1,200 crore. But this amount seems to be (a) false entry through the software system," Sen added in the letter.
Bose, the Rajya Sabha member from the TMC who is mentioned in the letter, told NDTV that while he did do business with a section of the Saradha group, he had no links to the chit fund company.
Ghosh, another MP who was the head of Saradha's media interests till April 3, said he was nothing more than "a salaried employee" and knew nothing about its financially dysfunctional chit fund.
Absolving himself of all misdeeds, the letter (Business Standard has access to it) lists people who'd allegedly taken huge sums of money on some pretext or the other and "used" Sen. The CBI is learnt to have sent the letter to the Calcutta police commissioner.
The "suicide note" (the letter has Sen saying he'd be committing suicide any time) explains how and why the Saradha promoter entered media, which he felt was a mistake. Sen held TMC MPs Kunal Ghosh and Srinjoy Bose for the media mess. (SARADHA’S SCHEME OF THINGS)
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"Kunal Ghosh attended the meeting with then finance minister Asim Dasgupta and started campaigning against Saradha. As I found myself to be very helpless to combat the media attack, I thought I must enter the media business." Thus, Sen bought Channel 10 for Rs 24 crore; it had hidden liabilities. About Rs 50 crore were spent in marketing and brand-building.
Thereafter, a deal was struck with Pratidin, another media publication. According to the agreement, Pratidin would be paid Rs 60 lakh every month and Ghosh would be appointed chief executive officer at a salary of Rs 15 lakh a month. They also decided to make actor Mithun Chakraborty brand ambassador for Rs 20 lakh. The letter, however, clarified that Chakraborty did not participate in any function, apart from one talk show.
The letter stated, "Pratidin has also given me an assurance that on execution of this agreement, they will protect my business from the government i.e. state and central government, and I will be able to get a smooth passage, and they assured me that they have very close connection with the present CM of West Bengal, i.e. Ms Mamata Banerjee. For the last two years, Pratidin have taken from me, represented by Srinjoy Bose, the managing director of Pratidin Publication and Pratidin Television Media Pvt Ltd, a sum of Rs 20 crore (approx); most of the payment made by cheque or RTGS. (At) Various time(s), they have taken cash under various causes shown to me and also apart from that for running the channel for the last three years, including the payment of ISRO and MSO (cable operators), not less than Rs 2 crore per month."
It then went on to state how things took a different turn when Kunal Ghosh, along with a few miscreants, allegedly forced Sen to sign some documents and letters. "I signed them without going through the contents thereof and after they have gone, I read and found that they have got me to sign as if I have sold them Channel 10 for a meagre amount of Rs 55 lakh, which can never happen. They also got me to sign as if I have transferred them my Urdu newspaper, Kalom, which I have never done. "The letter comes as a big embarrassment to the TMC government. However, conspiracy theories are also doing the rounds. Chief minister Banerjee rejected allegations against her party but promised to take action against the guilty. The Opposition parties saw it as a "got-up" case. "I am told that the TMC leadership dictated this letter. They just wanted to get rid of these two MPs and, hence, the letter mentions them," said Surjya Kanta Mishra, leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly.
The letter also drags in people across political parties. Finance Minister, P Chidambaram's wife, Nalini Chidambaram's name finds a mention. She came into the picture as an advocate for Manoranjana Sinh, who wanted to set up a channel in the northeast, according to the letter. Repeated calls and text messages to Nalini Chidambaram got no response.
The letter also mentions Debabrata Sarkar, alias Nitu, the de facto secretary of the East Bengal Club, who allegedly assured Sen that he would manage the latter's problems with Sebi through chairman U K Sinha and other persons with whom they had intimate connections. And, apparently, with the help of President Pranab Mukherjee, who was close to Nitu's associate, Sanjay Agarwal, and his son, Sandip Agarwal.
Sarkar dismissed the letter and said it was baseless. Sanjay Agarwal was also said to be close to the Left. The letter has some annexures to which Business Standard does not have access.
"What they have told last, that I have dues of Rs 2,200 crore up to the year 2026 and within this, the recurring deposit will be deposited by the money marketing leaders as it is running in instalments i.e. not less than Rs 1,200 crore. But this amount seems to be (a) false entry through the software system," Sen added in the letter.
Bose, the Rajya Sabha member from the TMC who is mentioned in the letter, told NDTV that while he did do business with a section of the Saradha group, he had no links to the chit fund company.
Ghosh, another MP who was the head of Saradha's media interests till April 3, said he was nothing more than "a salaried employee" and knew nothing about its financially dysfunctional chit fund.