Trinamool Congress MP Tapas Pal, arrested in chit fund scam, sent to jail

Bhubaneswar: Trinamool Congress MP Tapas Pal, arrested in the Rose Valley chit fund scam, was on Friday sent to jail, after CBI interrogated him jointly with the party MP Sudip Bandopadhyay.

Mr Pal, arrested in Kolkata on December 30 and brought to Odisha the next day, was produced in the Special Chief Judicial Magistrate (SCJM) court, designated as the CBI court, after the expiry of his six-day remand in two phase.

The MP’s lawyer Sabyasachi Banerjee had earlier moved a bail plea but SCJM P K Mishra reserved judgment on it and sent Mr Pal to Jharpada jail here till January 19.

“My client is clinically ill and he requires bail on health ground,” Mr Banerjee told reporters outside the court. Officials of the investigating agency said the actor turned politician was interrogated jointly with the party’s leader in the Lok Sabha, Sudip Bandopadhyay, who was arrested in Kolkata in the same case on January 3.

Mr Pal was arrested on December 30 by CBI for his alleged involvement in the multi-crore Rose Valley chit fund scam. He was taken on remand in two phases by the CBI from December 31.

During the first phase of his remand period, Mr Pal had complained about his health and spent most of the time at the Capital Hospital.

CBI in its petition to the court said that Mr Pal was one of the directors of the chit fund group in 2010.

Mr Pal is also accused of promoting the company through his speeches and misleading people to make deposits with it. The group allegedly duped investors in at least four states, including Odisha and West Bengal.

In its charge sheet submitted at the court here on January 7, 2016, CBI had charged the chit fund of defrauding investors of Rs. 17,000 crore, out of which Rs. 450 crore from Odisha alone.