Saradha scam: West Bengal Minister Madan Mitra sent to 14-day judicial custody

Kolkata: West Bengal Transport Minister Madan Mitra, who was arrested by CBI in connection with the Saradha chit fund scam, was on Friday remanded to 14 days' judicial custody by a court.

Judge Haradhan Mukherjee of Alipore Court rejected the bail plea and remanded Mitra to judicial custody till January 30, 2015, while allowing the CBI to conduct judicial interrogation of the accused in the presence of a defence counsel between January 17 and January 24.

Defence lawyer Ashok Mukherjee said that Mitra was already in detention for 36 days and his further custodial stay was not required. Moving the bail plea, he said that although the accused was detained for long, CBI could not file the charge sheet against Mitra so far.

At the start of the hearing, the judge showed displeasure with a section of the defence lawyers who shouted inside the court seeking Mitra's relief from detention. The court room was packed with supporters of Mitra who shouted ‘Vande Mataram’ slogans during Mitra's entry and exit.

Mitra told the court that as Sajjan Agarwal was not arrested but named in the charge sheet by CBI, he should also be treated the same way and assured of full cooperation with the investigating agency.

The CBI counsel said that Mitra's further detention was required as more material evidences had been collected and also prayed for judicial interrogation of the accused. He said CBI was in the process of preparing the supplementary charge sheet.