Ponzi scam: No judicial confession from Kunal Ghosh

KOLKATA: Saradha scam tainted MP Kunal Ghosh has gone back on his promise on Monday over making a judicial confession on his alleged involvement in the Ponzi muddle. Ghosh's lawyer Soumyajit Raha told the Bidhannagar court on Monday that his client is not making the magisterial statement on the case initiated at the Electronics Complex police station because the police have already submitted chargesheet and there is nothing left for him to add.

Ghosh had proposed to make the judicial confession soon after his arrest on November 29. Accordingly, the Bidhannagar court had allowed him to make the confidential statement on December 2. But before making the confession, Howrah Police took Ghosh in custody in a separate case on November 30. With Ghosh taken in custody by Howrah Police, the 48-hour segregation period - a crucial prelude to such judicial confessions - got interrupted.

The Howrah Police had claimed that the production warrant (in the Santragachhi case) against Ghosh was issued on November 28 - a day before the Bidhannagar court issued the order on judicial confession on November 29.

This FIR, for which Ghosh will be in Santragachhi police custody for the next week, was lodged in May 13, 2013 against Sudipta Sen and Brijesh Ray. A Saradha investor-agent, Jayanta Bera, lodged the complaint alleging he has been duped of Rs 7.15 lakh, a complaint not largely different in content from 703 other such FIRs lodged against Sudipta Sen state-wide. Till now, Ghosh has only been shown as an accused in complaints lodged by former employees of the Saradha-run media group.

He was the group media CEO.

But now it appears the police has cast the net wide. Police have already indicated that Ghosh played a greater role in the Saradha Group - a role which extended beyond handling the group's media outlets. Within days, Satragachhi police made a prayer was made before the Howrah court. Prior to this, Ghosh was questioned 11 times by different agencies - but not Howrah police. Ghosh's lawyer claims the police moves are aimed to frustrate their efforts to get a judicial confession done. "Their aim is not to get it done. But we have a judicial order now. They can't indefinitely stall it. Else we have an array of legal options to explore."