The Special Crime Branch of CBI probing the Saradha ponzi scam has once again sent a notice to Trinamool Congress seeking its income and expense details from 2010 to 2014. The notice has been marked to party’s new all-India general secretary Subrata Bakshi, who took charge of the post after the recent exit of Mukul Roy who fell out of favour with the party. The CBI served the notice through speed post and asked Bakshi to reply within a week’s time. [related-post] Sources, both in the Trinamool Congress and CBI, said the objective behind seeking the income and expense details may be to verify reports about earnings from the paintings of party chief Mamata Banerjee and whether those were reflected in the party’s book of accounts. The party, however, downplayed, the CBI move. “We receive many such letters. The party will assess the importance and contents of the letter and if it finds that matter needs to be addressed, the party will reply to it,” said Partha Chatterjee, TMC secretary general and spokesperson. Chatterjee also questioned CBI’s competence and said the central investigation agency is working at the behest of a particular party. “CBI is working under instructions of a particular party to put TMC in trouble. People have ample knowledge about how efficient this agency is. People also know the political masters at whose dictates this organisation runs. The High Court had pointed this out. The Supreme Court had mentioned it,” he added. Earlier, CBI had served a similar notice to the TMC a month ago when Mukul Roy was party’s all-India general secretary. Soon after, Roy was removed from the post. In a recent letter to Bakshi, Roy had informed that he was under no obligation to reply to the CBI notice. He also wrote that he does not possess any documents of the party. He mentioned that most of the party papers and documents are held by one “Mr Chakrabarty” (party accountant) and some papers are held in the possession of Manik Majumdar, a party worker who sits at the Harish Chatterjee street of TMC office at Kaligaht. Trinamool Congress party sources said that the party will reply to the CBI notice. It will submit the accounts that are usually submitted with the ECI.
