Kolkata, Oct 28 Former West Bengal minister Indranil Sen was on Wednesday questioned for at least four hours by sleuths of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), after which a Kolkata Police team whisked him away in connection with their probe into alleged financial irregularities in holding Durga Puja preview shows and the sale of passes, a senior official said.
The ED and Kolkata Police are conducting their own probes into the “financial irregularities” committed by MassArt Society, with which Sen and his wife Madhuchhanda were allegedly associated, in managing Durga Puja ‘preview shows’.
The former tourism and culture minister in the previous TMC government, earlier questioned several times by the ED in connection with the case, was grilled this afternoon at the central agency’s office at CGO Complex in Salt Lake.
“Sen had earlier been sent multiple summonses for appearance before our officers. However, he neither replied to our summonses nor appeared before our officers. He remained incommunicado with us for several months. Today, we got information that he will be appearing at the ED office. We are taking him to Lalbazar for questioning,” the Kolkata Police officer told PTI.
Several officers from the Kolkata Police’s Detective Department, waiting outside the ED office, took the former minister to Lalbazar.
Lalbazar is the headquarters of the Kolkata Police.
Sen could be arrested “if the situation demands”, he said.
The case originated from a complaint lodged by one Jaideep Mukherjee at Bowbazar police station in Kolkata. An FIR was registered on the basis of the complaint, following which the ED initiated its own investigation.
Sen, his wife Madhuchhanda and his associates are currently under the agency’s scanner for alleged financial irregularities committed by MassArt Society in managing Durga Puja ‘preview shows’.
The accused allegedly collected large sums of money from the public for passes for ‘privileged puja entry’ through the organisation between 2022 and 2025 by “falsely claiming to be a UNESCO-sponsored entity, and subsequently utilising those funds for personal gains”.
MassArt Society — a company, sources said, was set up soon after Durga Puja received the UNESCO recognition of intangible cultural heritage in 2021 — has Madhuchhanda Sen as its president, Dhrubajyoti Bose as secretary, Sayantan Mitra as vice-President and Ranjan Chatterjee as treasurer, the ED said.
According to preliminary estimates by the ED, the alleged financial irregularities could involve Rs 50-60 crore.
The complainant alleged that an impression was created about direct association with, or approval from, UNESCO, although the organisation had entered into no such commercial agreement.
Sen had earlier approached the Calcutta High Court seeking anticipatory bail, but his plea was rejected. He subsequently challenged the order in the Supreme Court.
(PTI News)
