Kunal Ghosh's arrest: Some questions for Mamata, Trinamool

Will the arrest of renegade Trinamool Congress MP Kunal Ghosh take the lid off a can of worms, asks Indrani Roy

The much-anticipated arrest of suspended Trinamool Congress Member of Parliament Kunal Ghosh took place on Saturday evening for his alleged involvement in the Saradha scam.

Ghosh’s detention followed his interrogation for over five hours at Kolkata’s Biddhannagar Police Commissionerate.

The TMC MP, who was group chief executive officer of Sardha's media wing until the company went bust six months ago, handed over a written request to lodge a formal First Information Report against sleuth Arnab Ghosh for ‘criminal blackmailing’.

While the police accepted the application, it is not yet clear whether the FIR has actually been lodged.

The journalist-turned MP dropped a bombshell on Friday by dragging party supremo Mamata Banerjee's name directly in the Saradha fiasco.

To stress on Saradha CEO Sudipta Sen’s proximity with the chief minister, the Rajya Sabha MP claimed that Sen floated the media houses to help Banerjee become the prime minister.

"'Didi, apni CM theke PM hoben, ami media house ke seibhabei sajachchhi. (Didi, I am setting up my media houses in a way that it helps you become the PM).' This is what (Sudipta) Sen had told Mamata," Ghosh divulged to Rediff.com on Friday.

It should be remembered that soon after the Saradha scandal surfaced, the West Bengal chief minister had steadfastly defended Ghosh, saying that “he was only the CEO of Saradha’s media group, he should not be dragged into the case in any way.”

However, the TMC suspended Ghosh soon after he spoke up against the party during an event in September and said that he was being made a scapegoat.

The same event was attended by another ‘disgruntled’ TMC MP Somen Mitra.

(Mitra, incidentally, announced his decision to quit TMC and join Congress a few weeks ago).

Will Ghosh’s arrest take the lid off a can of worms?

One has to wait for an answer to this particular question and a few others.

• What compelled the TMC leadership to imprison Ghosh now?
• If Ghosh is guilty, why didn’t Mamata Banerjee have any clue about his involvement in the scam?
• Why did the West Bengal chief minister go on defending the ex-CEO of Saradha’s media groups?
• Why did the investigating agencies turn the focus on Ghosh only after he threatened to reveal the names of all those who took money from Sen?
• Ghosh claimed to be in possession of some ‘explosive’ video clips and documents that are sure to ‘nail’ some big names of TMC.
• Did Ghosh’s arrest become ‘necessary’ because of that?
• Is it true that those ‘evidences’ are being kept in the ‘safe’ custody of a few other rebellious TMC men?
• Will those be revealed to the media in due course?
• Will the probe team now start questioning prominent TMC leader Mukul Roy whose name was repeatedly mentioned by Ghosh in the last few months?
• The team of detectives decided to question Ghosh after taking a cue from the letter written to the Central Bureau of Investigation by Sudipta Sen. Why is the same team not taking into account the names of other leaders mentioned by Ghosh in his allegations?
• Is the investigative agency under any kind of pressure?
• Why is the Bengal chief minister reluctant to hand over the case to the CBI?

Till now, Bengal’s Saradha scam appears like a jigsaw puzzle and it would be interesting to watch how the many pieces fall into their places.

Image: Kunal Ghosh ' Photograph: Dipak Chakraborty