A public interest litigation (PIL) was filed at the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday seeking a CBI probe into the role of leader of the opposition Suvendu Adhikari in the multi-crore Saradha chit fund scam.

Kolkata, July 13 , 2022: A public interest litigation (PIL) was filed at the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday seeking a CBI probe into the role of leader of the opposition Suvendu Adhikari in the multi-crore Saradha chit fund scam.

The PIL filed by advocate Ramaprasad Sarkar is likely to be heard on July 18.

Recently, Saradha Group founder and chairman Sudipta Sen, who is currently under CBI custody, had told mediapersons that Adhikari was a beneficiary in his business related to chit fund and multi-level marketing operations.

Sen also filed a prisoners’ petition with Calcutta HC Chief Justice Prakash Srivastava and Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Mayukh Mukherjee, where he made similar allegations.

Sen alleged that Adhikari blackmailed him and extorted crores of rupees.

Following these allegations by Sen, the Trinamool Congress leadership became vocal demanding the arrest of Adhikari by the CBI, which is probing the Saradha chit fund scam.

However, Adhikari has been claiming since the beginning that Sen levelled the allegations following pressure from the police and Trinamool Congress leaders.

The Saradha chit fund scam that accounted for several crores of rupees became a sensational issue just a year after the first Trinamool government took charge in 2011.

Several top Trinamool leaders, MLAs and MPs, including Madan Mitra, Kunal Ghosh, Srinjoy Basu and former DGP Rajat Majumdar, were arrested in this connection.

Meanwhile, other central agencies such as the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Income Tax Department and the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) too launched parallel probes into the matter.