Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court directed Debjani Mukherjee, an accused in the Saradha chit fund scam, to cooperate fully with the CBI. The probe agency is investigating the case involving thousands of crores of rupees of investors’ money. Adjourning the hearing in a bail petition moved by Debjani Mukherjee, a division bench comprising Justices Sanjib Banerjee and Aniruddha Roy directed that the matter will appear for hearing again after eight weeks.
The bench directed that the petitioner must cooperate fully with the CBI, both in the matter of any interrogation that may be necessary and for the purpose of obtaining her voice sample.
The petitioner, an alleged accomplice and close confidante of main accused Sudipta Sen, claimed that she has been in custody for nearly seven years and as such be granted bail.
Appearing for the CBI, Additional Solicitor General YJ Dastoor submitted that the petitioner along with other persons who are the accused in connected matters have woven an extensive web to trip the investigation and the courts so that the matter is delayed and prayers as the present one can be made.
Dastoor submitted that a simple application for interrogating co-accused Sudipta Sen and this petitioner in custody has taken months because of the myriad objections taken. He further said that an order has been obtained November 27 to take the voice sample of Mukherjee to match the same with some tape-recorded evidence that has been unearthed.
The additional solicitor general submitted that it may not be appropriate for the petitioner’s prayer to be considered at this stage, even before her voice sample is obtained.
The Saradha group allegedly defrauded lakhs of people in West Bengal through its several ponzi schemes. Thousands of crores of rupees were lost after the company collapsed in 2013. Its promoter Sudipta Sen and Debjani Mukherjee were arrested the same year from Sonmarg in Kashmir.
In a separate development Tuesday, the CBI once more interrogated former Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Asif Khan in connection with an audio clip in the multi-crore rupees Saradha scam. Khan said that the investigation agency had summoned him for testing his voice sample in the audio clip but it could not be done for some ‘technical reasons’.
“The CBI called me for testifying my voice in an audio clip which has been unearthed by the probing agency. But this could not be done for some technical reasons,” he told newspersons. “I will come and cooperate whenever I am called again,” he added.
Khan was interrogated by the investigating agency in connection with the Saradha scam in 2014. He was arrested and is now on bail.