Saradha scam: Court turns down Madan Mitra's bail plea

Kolkata: A city court on Thursday rejected the bail prayer of West Bengal Transport Minister Madan Mitra who was arrested by CBI on the charge of being involved in the multi-crore rupee Saradha chit fund scam.

Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Saugata Roy Chowdhury, Alipore, rejected the minister's bail plea and extended his judicial custody till October 22.

Praying for Mitra's bail plea, his counsel Baishanar Chattopadhyay submitted that the minister has been in judicial remand following a stint in CBI custody for around 304 days after his arrest on December 12 last year.

He submitted that CBI failed to make any headway in their probe into the scam and the agency was making a shoddy probe.

The counsel also contended there was no surety when the trial would commence and there was no reason for keeping Mitra in custody.

Opposing the bail prayer, CBI counsel Parthasarathi Dutta submitted that investigation into the larger conspiracy in the matter and into the money trail to discover where and how the huge amount of money was siphoned off was on.

Describing Mitra as an influential person, Dutta also submitted that releasing the minister on bail at this stage would severely hamper the probe and sought rejection of the bail plea.

Mitra, admitted at the state-run SSKM for the last few months, was not produced at the court today.