CBI grills Mamata Banerjee's close aide in painting case

KOLKATA: The Central Bureau of Investigation on Thursday examined Manik Majumdar, a close aide of West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee in connection with chief minister's painting case.

Majumdar, who appeared before the CBI investigators today, was served with a summon couple of months ago. Following the interrogation of Majumdar, the CBI team also reached his residence for some search operation in connection with the Saradha scam.

The central agency issued summons to both Majumdar and TMC MP Derek O'Brien in this regard. However, Derek O' Brien is yet to appear before the agency as the winter session in Parliament was on then. It was learnt that the CBI has yet again issued a summon to him.


Significantly, Banerjee in a government programme on Wednesday dared the Prime Minister to prove that any penny from the sale of the paintings had gone to her account. On Tuesday, BJP's national president Amit Shah took a dig at the chief minister saying her paintings were sold in crores and bought by the chit fund owners. Banerjee's Trinamool Congress sent a defamation notice to Shah in this regard demanding unconditional apology if he failed to prove his allegation leveled against the chief minister.