Ex-minister Indranil Sen, accused of financial irregularities, transferred ₹30 lakh to Mamata: ED
FORMER state tourism minister Indranil Sen, accused of financial irregularities centring around the Durga Puja, transferred ₹30 lakh to former chief minister Mamata Banerjee via banking channels as royalty, the Enforcement Directorate said in a statement on Thursday.
The statement comes a day after ED officials questioned Sen for around 10 hours at its office in Kolkata in connection with the alleged irregularities.
“Furthermore, the investigation has revealed that cash of more than ₹3.8 crore was deposited into the bank accounts of Indranil Sen and his proprietorship concern, M/s Octave Records, during his tenure. Also, from the bank account of Octave Records, a sum of nearly ₹30 lakh was transferred via banking channels to Mamata Banerjee, the then chief minister of West Bengal, which Indranil Sen has claimed was paid in the form of royalty,” the ED statement said.
While the agency didn’t explain what it meant by “royalty”, the Mamata All India Trinamool Congress refuted the charges, saying the ED was acting on the orders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The statement comes a day after ED officials questioned Sen for around 10 hours at its office in Kolkata in connection with the alleged irregularities. On Tuesday, the agency searched 15 premises in Kolkata linked to Sen and his close associates.
A complaint was lodged with the Kolkata Police in June this year, after the BJP came to power, alleging that massArt had collected huge sums of money from participants by falsely claiming to be a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)-sponsored entity.
The agency claimed that the accused individuals systematically commercialised Durga Puja viewing, effectively converting a public festival into a commercial enterprise for personal gain. It said that the accused persons, operating through massArt (a non-profit organisation), sold tickets to people ranging from ₹1,749 to ₹5,499 for ‘Preview Shows’ across 24 selected Durga Puja pandals in Kolkata.
“Over two years (2023 and 2024), more than one lakh such tickets were issued. The proceeds from the ticket sales were subsequently siphoned off, either through cash withdrawals from the bank accounts or by being written off under the guise of miscellaneous expenses,” it said.
The Mamata-AITC faction led by Banerjee has not only set aside the allegations but has also questioned the timing of the ED’s statement against the former chief minister.
“ED may do or whatever it likes. The masters of the ED are all vote chor. How does it matter what the ED and CB say? They can fool some people, but not all. Everyone understands the timing when the statement has been made. We all know why it has been done. After the INDIA-bloc’s meeting and press conference in Delhi on Wednesday, investigating agencies will issue similar statements against various opposition leaders in the coming days,” spokesperson of the Mamata-AITC, Anirban Banerjee said.
BJP spokesperson Sayantan Basu said, “The allegations are serious. They have not even spared the Mother Goddess. Earlier there were allegations that agents of bhaipo (BJP often refers to Abhishek Banerjee as bhaipo, the Bengali word for nephew) received proceeds of crime. Now the ED is alleging that the money was transferred directly to Banerjee’s account. If they (Mamata-AITC) think that this is a baseless allegation, they should move the court and file a defamation suit.”
“I don’t believe that Banerjee will take any money (proceeds of crime) from Sen,” Madan Mitra, a rebel AITC leader who joined the Ritabarata Banerjee-led Democratic Trinamool Congress, said
