Saradha scam: Ex-minister's wife Manoranjana sent to CBI custody

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SME Times News Bureau | 09 Oct, 2015
Former union minister and Congress leader Matang Sinh's estranged wife Manoranjana -- who was arrested in connection with the Saradha scam -- was on Thursday sent to five days custody of the CBI by a court in Kolkata.

Manoranjana along with Kolkata-based entrepreneur and chairman of the now-defunct Xenitis Group, Santanu Ghosh were arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday for their alleged complicity in the multi-crore-rupee scam.

Rejecting their bail plea, the court sent the duo to CBI custody till October 13.

According to the CBI, they were "involved in a criminal conspiracy with Saradha group head and scam kingpin Sudipta Sen and misappropriated huge amounts running into crores of rupees".

The CBI had arrested Matang Sinh in January and charge-sheeted him for several offences including cheating and criminal conspiracy.

The CBI and the Enforcement Directorate had since 2014 been quizzing Manoranjana -- who along with many other high-profile names -- has been accused of complicity in the scam by Sudipta Sen in his 2013 tell-all letter to the CBI.

Manoranjana, a former journalist, had allegedly sold her shares in an audio-visual channel to the Saradha Group.

She had also purportedly taken Sen to the lawyer-wife of a former union minister for settling a deal, Sen claimed in the letter.

Ghosh, said to have made several business transactions with the tainted group, was arrested in June 2014 by the Enforcement Directorate under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

He was subsequently granted bail in August last year by a city court.