chit fund scam : Trinamool MP offers to quit

Kolkata (IANS): Under fire for his alleged complicity in the Saradha Group chit fund muddle, Trinamool Congress MP Kunal Ghosh has written to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee pleading innocence and has offered to quit. "I am ready to resign if you instruct me to do so. I am ready to face any investigation and I am also ready to cooperate with the investigation process," Ghosh wrote to Banerjee. The letter has been posted on the party's official website. Saradha Group chief Sudipta Sen is behind bars and facing prosecution for cheating. He had written to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), accusing several high profile Trinamool Congress and Congress leaders, including Ghosh, of complicity in the chit fund scam. Sen has accused Ghosh of blackmailing him and barging into his office with miscreants and extracting a sale deed for a media house, which Sen owned. In the six-page letter, Ghosh has pleaded innocence claiming that all allegations and propaganda against him are lies. Meanwhile, a second police complaint has been filed against Ghosh, the head of the media arm of Saradha Group. A first information report was filed earlier his employees alleging financial irregularities. Ghosh had refuted the allegations saying he was a mere salaried employee of the group and was entrusted with editorial responsibilities and had no financial powers.

Another depositor commits suicide Purulia (PTI): A money collection agent who had deposited his personal savings of about Rs 4 lakh with the scam-ridden chit fund company Saradha Group on Saturday committed suicide here in Purulia district, police said. Swapan Kumar Biswas, 36, was found hanging from the ceiling in house at Balrampur, 50 km from Purulia town. Police said he had deposited Rs 4 lakh from his personal savings in the Saradha group and was under severe distress after news spread of the scam.