The Howrah Lok Sabha by-election to be held in the shadow of Saradha chitfund scam will be a test case for the Mamata Banerjee government's popularity and for the Congress and the Communist Party of India-Marxist to gauge their standing in West Bengal prior to the 2014 general election.
The first to arrive at the Salt Lake office of the central probe agency here was the award wining actor and director Sen whose statement was recorded by ED which is probing her role as the Editor of a magazine brought out by the now defunct group.
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The CBI has recently filed a chargesheet in a court in Kolkata.
The central agency had prayed for 10 days custody of the accused, but the court granted a week.
The three points on which clarifications are sought include widening of powers of special designated courts and that no court could grant anticipatory bail and a suggestion by the Centre for adding a new provision for compounding offences.
The rest, investigators claimed, were floated as "dummies" to act as cover for unleashing the alleged ponzi scheme.
Also directed the company not make any financial transaction till further orders.
Breaking her silence over the collapse of chitfund company, Saradha Group, which has hit thousands of depositors across the state in the last few days, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today instituted a high-level inquiry and deputed a special investigation team into it.
Banerjee told reporters after a high-level meeting that a SIT under the DGP would go into the fiasco and a high-level inquiry under the Commission of Inquiry Act was being instituted.
If the sanction is accorded, the four leaders might be named in the charge sheet.
Official sources said a team of sleuths from the agency searched the flat located in Greater Kailash area yesterday in connection with their money laundering probe in the multi-crore chitfund scam.
Appearing before Justice A K Banerjee and Justice D Basak, Sen's counsel claimed the government was yet to form a special court, as suggested by the High Court in its earlier order, for hearing all cases with regard to the Saradha scam, which runs into thousands of crores of rupees.
Football in West Bengal may not be the same again in the aftermath of the Saradha chit fund scam which has left thousands of investors in disarray and could mean a drying up of funds for clubs.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday slammed West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for her "political vendetta" charge over action in Saradha scam, saying she is pressing the "panic button" and "rattled" by the possibility that her "own involvement" could come to light.
Taking West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee head on, the Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi accused her of playing vote bank politics and said no real 'parivartan' (change) has taken place in the state during the Trinamool Congress' rule.
Taking potshots at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over the Saradha chit-fund scam and the Burdwan blast, Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah on Sunday appealed to the people here to vote for change and development in the state.
Stepping up his offensive against the Congress, he asked the party to "repent" for what it has not done in the last 60 years.
The first phase of the crucial panchayat polls in West Bengal will begin on Thursday even as the ruling Trinamool Congress kept up its attack against the State E1lection Commission.
There should be "a CBI probe against CBI", the Supreme Court remarked on Monday as it blamed the agency for its constant refrain about severe manpower deficit, saying it had itself shown apathy towards filling up these vacancies leading to a shortfall of investigators.
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