ED attaches Matang Sinh’s property worth Rs 100 crore

NEW DELHI: Former Union minister Matang Sinh, whose arrest in the Saradha scam led to the removal of home secretary Anil Goswami, is in fresh trouble. Enforcement Directorate ( ED) on Friday attached property worth Rs 100 crore belonging to Sinh in Delhi NCR. This is in addition to Rs 200 crore worth of property already attached by the agency in Mumbai and Assam.

ED sources said two flats (7B and 7C) belonging to Sinh in Doctor's Lane of Gole Market in New Delhi were attached by the agency. Apart from this, two more properties (A29 and A30) in Sector 4 of Noida where Sinh had opened the corporate office of M3M Media Pvt Ltd were attached by the agency.

On December 23, ED had attached a flat belonging to Sinh in Versova, Mumbai and an entire building (the NETV building) in Guwahati. While the cumulative deed value of all these properties is only Rs 48 crore, the market value goes over Rs 300 crore.

According to ED sources, Sinh had entered into an agreement with Saradha MD Sudipta Sen to open a TV channel. For this, he had received Rs 28 crore. There was allegedly also an illegal transfer of shares between the two parties. Part of this money flowed into purchase of the said properties.

Meanwhile, ED has summoned TMC MP Arpita Ghosh for a second round of questioning on February 13 in connection with the scam probe. "Some of the Saradha money had gone to her as well. In the last questioning, she could not provide details of some bank accounts. We want her to furnish the same now," said an ED official.

Sinh was recently arrested by CBI in Kolkata and was charged with criminal conspiracy, cheating and misappropriation of funds related to Saradha Realty, one of the companies of the group which is being probed by the agency. Sinh had allegedly been using the name of a senior bureaucrat to get deals settled and getting work done.

Even before his arrest, he called up several IPS and IAS officers, including Goswami, to prevent his arrest. The incident led to Goswami being asked by the government to take early retirement. CBI has already charge-sheeted Sinh in a loan default case in February 2013 where he allegedly did not repay Rs 67 crore loan taken from Canara Bank for floating M-3 channel.