Saradha scam accused Kunal Ghosh walked out on bail on Friday after spending two years in Alipur Central Jail. The journalist-turned-politician, who became a Rajya Sabha MP, was arrested in 2013 in connection with the scam.
Following the arrest, he was placed under suspension by his party—the Trinamool Congress.
Ghosh has been given bail a month after former minister Madan Mitra, one of the prime accused in the case, walked out on bail.
The CBI, which is probing the scam did not oppose the bail plea of Ghosh although it had said would contest the bail of Mitra.
“I feel happy that I was able to get bail on the eve of the festival season. I thank everyone who supported me in this hour of crisis,” Ghosh said when contacted. He, however, refused to make any political statement saying the case was still on.
“I will cooperate with CBI like I did in the past,” he said.
Ghosh was the first politician to be arrested after Saradha CMD Sudipta Sen and his associate Debjani Mukherjee was nabbed by Bidhannagar police in April, 2013 when the Rs 30,000 crore scam broke out. Six months later, the CBI took over the case and arrested senior Trinamool Congress leaders, including Mitra.
With Ghosh’s bail, only Sen and Mukherjee are behind bars.
The opposition parties have questioned the manner in which the investigation is being carried out. “Ghosh is a small fish. But all big fishes who siphoned off money are roaming free. CBI could not do anything as central government put an embargo before it at the instance of West Bengal’s ruling party. We are waiting for the observation of the Supreme Court,” said Abdul Mannan, leader of the opposition in the West Bengal assembly.
