Kolkata: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s close aide Shibaji Panja was arrested on Saturday on charges of financial fraud.
The entrepreneur, who accompanied Banerjee on her official visit to Bangladesh, was detained at the immigration counter upon his return and was arrested by the local police following a lookout notice issued by the Delhi Police on February 19. He will be handed over to the Delhi police on Monday.
Though the details of the economic offence is not known, the arrest adds to the embarrassment of the chief minster, especially at a time when her party leaders are battling corruption charges from the Saradha scam.
Panja, who has been seen with Banerjee at various government programmes, runs a Bengali television channel and is a member of the Kolkata International Film Festival committee, one of Banerjee’s pet projects. He is also believed to be one of the prime organisers of the exhibitions of the chief minister’s paintings and handles funding for the Trinamool Congress.
Banerjee has denied any involvement of her government in this case. “This has nothing to do with us. He is a businessman and there could have been cases against him, which has nothing to do with our government or this visit,” Banerjee told reporters following Panja’s arrest.
The opposition has sought an explanation about the company Banerjee keeps. “She [Banerjee] has to explain why she has not taken precautions and checked the background of people accompanying her to an official visit. Also why [are] all her key aides and party leaders are getting caught in economic frauds?” BJP vice-president Siddhartnath Singh said.
State Congress party chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has also sought the chief minister’s explanation as he believed that it could impair India’s relationship with Bangladesh. “Hope this will not have a fallout on the visit as it involves the country’s relationship with its neighbours. But she [Banerjee] should explain why he [Panja] accompanied her not only to Bangladesh but also Singapore,” said Chowdhury.
“The whole party is corrupt. These people were singing Mamata’s tune during the elections and now there are using the state government for profit,” CPI-M leader Sujan Chakraborty said.
Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) MP Mohammad Salim demanded a thorough probe into Panja’s involvement with the Trinamool Congress party.
“Much like the Trinamool was involved with Saradha chief Sudipta Sen, we believe Panja, too, has a similar involvement. We demand that the matter is properly investigated and is not hushed up,” said Salim.
— with inputs from IANS
