A day after being granted bail, West Bengal Transport Minister, Madan Mitra, returned to his south Kolkata home on Sunday.
Mitra, who was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in December last year for his alleged complicity in the Saradha scam, has been in judicial custody for these 11 months.
However, most of his time was spent at the VIP room of the Woodburn ward of the State-run SSKM Hospital.
On Sunday, the hospital authorities declared the minister fit and accordingly, he returned home this afternoon.
CBI had accused the minister of deriving “undue financial benefits” from the now defunct Saradha Group. The Group was accused of illegally mobilising crores from depositors – across Bengal and the neighbouring States – through money collection and collective investment schemes.
The group went bust in April 2013 duping thousands of depositors. The group Chairman Sudipta Sen, arrested a later in April, has since then been in jail.
Conditional Bail
A city court had on Saturday granted “conditional bail” to the minister, and asked him to furnish a bail bond worth ₹2 lakh.
“It is a conditional bail. He has to deposit his passport and cooperate with CBI when the agency needs him. He cannot leave the State without the permission of the court,” Ashok Mukherjee, Mitra’s counsel said.
Meanwhile, when asked by a private new channel, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee refused to comment stating that the matter was subjudice. “The matter is subjudice,” she said.
Incidentally, Mitra is the only senior functionary of the Trinamool Congress who was in jail for their alleged connection with the Saradha money collection scam.
Other party functionaries such as other political persons including former TMC MP Srinjoy Bose and TMC leader and former IPS Rajat Majumdar were granted bail earlier.
The other high profile arrest in the case – now suspended Trinamool Congress MP, Kunal Ghosh, is still in judicial custody. Ghosh was heading the new media ventures of the now defunct Saradha Group.