)
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's close aide and transport minister Madan Mitra, who was recently arrested by the CBI in multi-crore Saradha scam, was today sent to 14-day judicial custody by a local court here.
Mitra was produced before the Alipore court here, which rejected his bail plea. He has been in CBI custody since his arrest on December 12. The supporters of Trinamool Congress continued their protest at the court premise today as well.
Meanwhile, before being produced in court Madan Mitra alleged that CPI(M) leaders were involved in the Saradha case. "I have told CBI that CPI(M) leaders like Rabin Deb, Md Salim and Sujan Chakraborty had links with Saradha," he said.
Also Read
The Left leaders, however, denied any such links. "In custody, he is taking names of Mamata and Mukul. He does not have courage to do so outside, hence alleging all these," CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakraborty said.
CBI had arrested Madan Mitra on prima facie evidence of criminal conspiracy, cheating and misappropriation as well as deriving undue financial benefits from the Saradha group. Mitra had been served summons by the CBI last month.
However, he evaded questioning on health grounds. He was admitted to private hospital, Belle Vue Clinic, which he quietly left for state-run SSKM hospital. Mitra's name came up in CBI's interrogation of his former aide, Bapi Karim. Karim was quizzed immediately after the agency took charge of the investigation. Among many other allegations, Mitra headed Saradha's employee union.
