Bengal ex-minister Indranil Sen’s daughter to be quizzed in fake Durga Puja pass scam probe

Kolkata: The Kolkata Police summoned Averi Sen, daughter of former West Bengal minister Indranil Sen, for questioning in the ongoing investigation into an alleged fake Durga Puja pass scam linked to festival tours organised around the UNESCO-tagged celebration.

Averi Sen has been asked to appear at Lalbazar, the city police headquarters, on Monday.

Indranil Sen, a singer-turned-politician who served as the state’s Minister of State for Information and Cultural Affairs, is in police custody. He was arrested in connection with the case. His wife, Madhuchhanda Sen, who owns Mass Art, through which the allegedly fake passes carrying the UNESCO tag were sold, was also questioned at Lalbazar last week.

Madhuchhanda Sen appeared for questioning after securing anticipatory bail from a single-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court. The same bench had rejected a similar anticipatory bail plea filed by the former minister.

A senior city police officer confirmed that a notice had been served on Averi Sen. An investigating officer said the preliminary inquiry indicated that a portion of the money generated from the sale of the allegedly fake passes had been transferred to her bank account. The police, therefore, considered her questioning necessary to establish the trail of the proceeds.

“Indranil Sen is scheduled to be produced before a city court again on November 10. The investigating officers are trying to collect as much evidence-based information as possible during the investigation period so that the case against him is properly substantiated. The questioning of Madhuchhanda Sen and Averi Sen is part of that exercise,” a police source said.

Dhrybojyoti Bose, a senior official of Mass Art, is also under the scanner, the officer added.

The Kolkata Police and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) are conducting parallel investigations into the multi-crore fake Puja pass sale case. The ED initiated its probe on the basis of an FIR registered against Indranil Sen and others in connection with the alleged scam.

The former minister was arrested by the Kolkata Police last week after he came out of the ED’s Salt Lake office, where he had faced prolonged questioning in the case.

Apart from the two agencies, a judicial inquiry committee constituted by the state government and headed by retired Calcutta High Court judge Justice Biswajit Basu is examining allegations against Indranil Sen.

The panel is looking into alleged irregularities in the tendering process during his tenure as Minister of State for Information and Cultural Affairs.

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