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This is an archive article published on August 23, 2014
‘Moral duty’ forces East Bengal to stand by ‘tainted’ Sarkar
According to Saradha Group chairman and Sudipta Sen, Sarkar and his associates took away Rs 40 crore from him.
An emergent executive committee of the East Bengal Club Friday ended with the officials pledging support to Debabrata Sarkar, the powerful club official, who was arrested by the CBI two days ago for his alleged involvement in the Saradha financial scam.
In the meeting that lasted nearly two hours, while one group, supported by a section of fans, was gunning for Sarkar’s head, the executive committee unanimously stood by the tainted official with secretary Kalyan Majumder describing it as their moral duty.
“The committee unanimously took a decision to stand by Sarkar. He was officially assigned by the club to deal with the sponsors. So, it now becomes our moral responsibility to support him,” Majumder said after the meeting.
Former club secretary Partha Sengupta, however, rubbished the logic. “If he (Sarkar) was officially assigned by the club, then he had an obligation to submit all the money that he received from the sponsors, into the club coffers. Reports suggest, he submitted only a part. East Bengal have millions of fans all over the world and they demand transparency. Things shouldn’t be brushed under the carpet.”
According to Saradha Group chairman and the scam mastermind Sudipta Sen, Sarkar and his associates took away Rs 40 crore from him. “In 2010, he (Sarkar) took Rs 5 crore and thereafter Rs 80 lakh or more every month. In total, Nitu (Debabrata Sarkar) and several others took away Rs 40 crore in the last three years,” Sen wrote to CBI.
Meanwhile, two other East Bengal officials were also said to be benefited from Sen’s ‘munificence’. The sleuths are investigating all possible angles.
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