KOLKATA: Former West Bengal minister Indranil Sen was arrested by Kolkata Police on Wednesday over alleged corruption linked to financial irregularities in the sale of entry passes for Durga Puja preview shows in Kolkata.
According to sources, police took Sen, who had held the information and cultural affairs and tourism portfolios in the erstwhile Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress government, to Lalbazar, the Kolkata Police headquarters, from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) office at CGO Complex.
Sen appeared at the ED office on Wednesday afternoon after being summoned by the central agency in connection with an alleged money-laundering case involving the sale of entry passes for Durga Puja preview shows.
Sen was at the CGO Complex for about four hours before Kolkata Police arrested him on the spot.
Lalbazar had summoned him several times for questioning in connection with alleged corruption cases, but he did not respond.
Police arrested Sen, a close aide of former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, over his alleged links to the Durga Puja ‘preview shows’ and the sale of entry passes in Kolkata, sources said.
He has been facing questioning by the ED since September in connection with the money-laundering case.
A day after conducting searches at 15 locations linked to Sen on September 29, the ED questioned him for nearly 10 hours, beginning at 11 am, at its Salt Lake CGO Complex office on September 30.
“Our officers had questioned Sen for nearly 10 hours as part of an investigation into allegations that tickets for Durga Puja events were sold at substantially higher prices. He could not give proper replies to certain questions,” ED sources said.
“We have examined the entire chain of transactions, including the collection and movement of funds, and the role of individuals associated,” the sources said.
On September 29, the ED searched 15 premises linked to Sen and others as part of an alleged money-laundering investigation involving around Rs 50 crore to Rs 60 crore.
The searches were conducted in connection with alleged financial irregularities involving massArt (Mahanirban Road Mass Art Society), an organisation that hosted Durga Puja preview shows.
According to the ED, massArt, which is headed by Sen’s wife, allegedly collected substantial amounts from the public by falsely claiming that the funds were being raised for a UNESCO-sponsored entity.
The agency suspected that the money was subsequently diverted for personal gain, officials said.
The searches were carried out under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
An ED team also conducted a search operation at his Kasba residence on September 29. Other teams of the central investigating agency carried out simultaneous raids at several other locations, including Hindustan Park and Highland Park, in the city.
Sources said the search operation at a residential building in Highland Park was conducted at a property owned by an event management businessman.
An ED team also reached a resort-cum-bungalow owned by Indranil in the Singur area of Hooghly district and began a search operation there. A response from Sen or massArt on the ED action was not immediately available.
The central investigating agency was prompted to carry out the searches following a complaint lodged against the former minister’s wife, Madhuchhanda Sen, and her organisation at Bowbazar police station in June.
It was alleged that the organisation was formed within about six months after the Durga Puja festival in Kolkata received UNESCO recognition in 2021, when Mamata Banerjee returned to power in West Bengal for a third time. The organisation claimed to be an ‘official partner’ of UNESCO.
It was also alleged that the organisation had used UNESCO’s name and logo without the international body’s approval.
Sources requesting anonymity said the organisation had sold ‘preview show’ passes for around 24 big-budget pujas at very high prices.
In many cases, the prices of the passes ranged between Rs 1,800 and Rs 5,500 each, sources said.
According to the preliminary investigation, around 19,000 people registered for the ‘preview passes’ in 2022, 34,000 in 2023 and around 61,000 in 2024.
Based on these alleged irregularities, different ED teams conducted searches at 15 locations, including Sen’s house, in the city and its outskirts.
The ED, which is probing the alleged money-laundering case, also claimed that an organisation owned by Sen had transferred Rs 30 lakh to the bank account of then Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
The central investigating agency had earlier issued an official press statement claiming, “...the investigation has revealed that cash of more than Rs 3.8 crore was deposited into the bank accounts of Indranil Sen and his proprietorship concern M/S Octave Records, during his tenure. Also from the bank account of Octave Records, a sum of nearly Rs 30 lakh was transferred via banking channels to Mamata Banerjee, the then Chief Minister of West Bengal, which Indranil Sen has claimed was paid in the form of royalty.”
The agency further claimed, “Investigation has further revealed that during Indranil Sen’s tenure as a Minister of the West Bengal Government, multiple tenders from the Tourism and Cultural ministry of more than Rs 85 crore, were awarded to the entities owned by Dhrubajyoti Bose and Dipesh Roy.
Both individuals are known to be close associates of Indranil Sen. These entities subsequently transferred large sums of money to entities controlled by relatives of Indranil Sen. Furthermore, massive cash withdrawals have been observed from the bank accounts of the entities that secured these tenders.”
The ED investigation was initiated on the basis of an FIR registered by Bowbazar police station under the Kolkata Police Commissionerate. The FIR invokes Sections 316(2), 318(4), 336(2), 336(3), 338, 340(2) and 61(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023.
According to the ED’s press statement, the investigation followed a written complaint by Jaydeep Mukherjee against Indranil Sen, Madhuchhanda Sen, Dhrubajyoti Bose, Sayantan Mitra and Ranjan Chatterjee, who are associated with massArt.
