Scribes As Scamsters: Leading Bengali Journalist Working With Times Group Arrested By CBI In Chit Fund Scam

The Central Bureau of Investigation(CBI) on Thursday(Dec 20) arrested Suman Chattopadhyay, an editor of a leading Bengali daily Ei Shomoy (published by the Times of India group) in connection with his role in the I-Core Group chit fund scam, IANS has reported.

CBI Spokesperson Abhishek Dayal alleged that Chattopadhyay had received money in his bank accounts from the chit fund firm.

Chattopadhyay, who is also a director in Disha Productions and Media Private Limited (DPMPL), was arrested after several hours of questioning at the agency's office at the CGO complex in a case registered against the I-Core Group.

The Managing Directors of I-Core E Services Limited, Anukul Maity, and his wife Kanika were arrested in 2017 by CBI on charges of cheating. The couple was earlier taken into custody by the Criminal Investigation Department of West Bengal police in cheating and other fraud cases. The company had mobilised funds, mainly in Odisha, Jharkhand and West Bengal, through its ponzi schemes that promised returns at rates much higher than those prevailing in the market

Chattopadhyay is the second prominent journalist to be arrested in a chit fund scam. A series of chit fund scams has rocked Bengal in the last few years bringing to light the uly nexus between politicians, crony businessman, media and celebrities in the state.

Kunal Ghosh, who was the editor of Sampad Pratidin and later went on to become a Rajya Sabha member representing the Trinamool Congress, was arrested in connection with the Saradha chit fund scam. He spend almost three years in jail and was finally granted interim bail earlier this year against personal bond by Calcutta High Court . Ghosh was an close associate of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and wielded considerable clout before he was suspended from the party after he accused the Trinamool Congress leaders and workers of being involved in the Saradha scam.

Chattopadhyay was the editor of Ananda Bazaar Patrika, a Bengali daily brought out by the ABP Group, a media conglomerate owned by Aveek Sarkar. The group runs two newspapers, nine magazines including Fortune India, four TV channels (ABP News, ABP Majha, ABP Ananda and Sananda TV), two publishing houses, including Penguin India and a Mobile and an Internet company.

Chattopadhyay is alleged to have funded two media ventures, Ekdin, a Bengali daily and another publication, Disha, by funneling money from the proceeds of the chit fund scam.

Some of the other companies accused in the Chit Fund scam - Rose Valley, Icore and Sharadah- are also said to have siphoned off funds and launched television channels, newspapers and magazines. Many such publications had proliferated in Bengal but have shut down since the CBI investigations began.

Many Bengali journalists are known to enjoy closely proximity to chit fund scamsters who in turn are said to be patronised by a section of ruling Trinamool in Congress.

Even ABP group and its Aveek Sarkar , known for its brazenly partisan ideological support to Congress , is said to have turned a virulent critic of Mamata Banerjee after a brief period of bonhomie due to the lukewarm response of Trinamool government to his business ambitions and long-term expansion plan.