Kolkata : A court here Wednesday granted conditional bail to Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha member Srinjoy Bose, who was arrested in November 2014 by the CBI probing the multi-crore-rupee Saradha chit fund scam.
Passing the order, South 24 Parganas district and sessions judge Samaresh Prasad Chowdhury directed Bose not to go abroad without permission from the court and to cooperate with the Central Bureau of Investigation in matters related to the probe.
He was also told not to make any effort to influence the probe.
After hearing the bail petition moved by Bose’s counsel, the judge asked him to submit two bonds of Rs.50,000 each.
Bose’s lawyers had sought bail arguing that he had already spent 75 days in police and judicial custody and was cooperating in the probe.
They said Bose should be granted bail as the CBI was yet to file a chargesheet against him under section 420 of the Indian Penal Code, under which he was arrested, while the maximum detention time under the section was 75 days.
The counsel for the CBI did not oppose the defence lawyer’s argument about the statutory period, but prayed to the court that Bose be not given bail as the case was sensitive and had a bearing on the society.
Bose, the editor of Trinamool mouthpiece Jago Bangla and Bengali newspaper Sambad Pratidin, was arrested Nov 21 by the CBI for alleged criminal conspiracy, misappropriation of funds and deriving undue financial benefits in connection with the scam.
The assistant general secretary of city soccer giants Mohun Bagan, Bose is the first senior Trinamool leader to be granted bail in the scam.
Sports and Transport Minister Madan Mitra and former director general of police Rajat Majumdar – both important Trinamool leaders – are still behind bars. Suspended Trinamool Rajya Sabha member Kunal Ghosh is also in jail.
Bose was accused of ‘blackmail’ by purported scam kingpin and Saradha Group promoter Sudipta Sen in a latter he is supposed to have written to the CBI in April 2013.
In the letter, Sen claimed he entered the media business after the Bengali daily started attacking him.
Sen, now under arrest along with his top aides, said that after he purchased a television channel, Bose and Kunal Ghosh came to him and he had to make arrangements for paying Rs.60 lakh per month to the newspaper for running the channel.
Sen also claimed that the duo promised to ensure a “smooth passage” for him and protect his business from the state and central governments and assured him “they have very close connections” with the chief minister.
Sen in his letter also alleged that over two years, the paper had taken Rs.20 crore from him for running the channel.