Saradha scam: Mitra discharged; CBI to probe him

The CBI is gearing up to grill state transport and sports minister Madan Mitra in the Saradha scam after he was discharged from the SSKM hospital on Wednesday.

The CBI is gearing up to grill state transport and sports minister Madan Mitra in the Saradha scam after he was discharged from the SSKM hospital on Wednesday.

“The medical board has discharged the minister and advised him to take physical and mental rest for at least one more week,” said professor RN Pandey, acting director of SSKM Hospital.

Sources at SSKM said the medical board has given Mitra an opportunity to buy time and prepare documents to appear before the CBI. Following CBI’s earlier summon, Mitra was scheduled to face interrogation at CGO complex on November 21.

“I am ready to face the CBI as and when I am asked. We may also inform the agency that I am discharged from the hospital,” Mitra told reporters.

Mitra took everyone by surprise when he walked out of a premier private hospital and got himself admitted to the SSKM hospital on November 20 with multiple complications like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), ischemic heart disease, diabetes, sleep disorder, depression and tumours in his back.

CBI interrogates former Assam minister

KOLKATA: The CBI on Wednesday interrogated former Assam health Minister Hemanta Biswa Sharma for his alleged role in the Saradha scam.

Saradha chief Sudipta Sen had alleged the former minister in the Tarun Gogoi cabinet took money for providing protection to the group for running their business.

Though Sharma denied to have received any summons from the CBI, he appeared before the agency’s CGO complex office and was interrogated till late in the evening.