CBI gets custody of minister Madan Mitra till December 19

KOLKATA: CBI was today granted custody of West Bengal Transport Minister Madan Mitra, arrested in connection with Saradha chit fund scam, by a city court for four more days till December 19.

Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate of Alipore court Haradhan Banerjee granted CBI Mitra's custody and rejected conducting of his voice samples tests.

The agency had prayed for custody of Mitra for five days.

The Prosecution counsel told the court that during the custodial interrogation of Mitra, CBI was able to collect some evidences which showed he was directly involved in the case and so further custody of the accused was required.

Opposing Mitra's bail plea, he said CBI had got hold of certain digital data which would be sent to the Central Forensic Sciences Laboratory for getting an expert opinion.

CBI investigating officer F B Karna submitted in the court that the agency had got some digital data which would be sent to check its veracity.

He said voice samples of Mitra would also be sent for testing and the evidences would reveal new facts and new names.

Defence counsel Ashok Mukherjee said such submissions did not have legal permission when the public prosecutor himself was present and hence should be ignored.

To this, the prosecution counsel, citing a Supreme Court order, said submissions of an IO in the court was allowed.

Mitra told the court that CBI officers were taking Mitra's voice samples and threatening him to take the name of chief minister Mamata Banerjee as a beneficiary of the scam or face larger legal consequences.

He also said the CBI officers were not interrogating him in custody but making him sit in front of them.

Praying for bail, the minister said he was under psychiatric treatment and the custodial stay was causing him mental trauma and might claim his life.

Mukerjee told the court that minister's custodial stay was not required as he was not subject to interrogation by CBI.

He said the second remand was a copy of the first one and a mere mechanical prayer.