Former West Bengal Minister of State (MoS) for Tourism Indranil Sen has come under the Enforcement Directorate (ED) scanner, with agency officials searching 15 locations on Tuesday in connection with alleged fund misappropriation. The raids targeted his residence and other key properties across Kolkata and Singur, including locations in Kasba, Hindustan Road, Panchasayar, and his Singur farmhouse.
Jaydeep Mukherjee, an international travel consultant based in Kolkata, has filed a police complaint against former West Bengal Minister Indranil Sen and his wife, Madhuchhandra Sen, who runs the Mahanirban Road Mass Art Society (massArt). Mukherjee alleged that massArt ran a high-priced ticket sale during Durga Puja festivities by falsely claiming a partnership with UNESCO. The complainant, who has organised overseas Durga Puja roadshows since 2010, lodged the complaint in June at the Bowbazar Police Station and also approached the Kolkata Police Commissioner and the State Director General of Police.
The duo used the UNESCO name and logo to market tickets for exclusive preview and guided shows at 24 select Durga Puja pandals in Kolkata, with tickets being sold as high as ₹ 4000 per person, states the police complaint.
Meanwhile, access to common people to these pandals was to be denied. Money was collected from around 200 people; a huge amount of misappropriation of funds took place due to these false claims. The money was reportedly collected by an individual rather than through the organisation. The complainant says he could not file a police complaint before, as Sen was a minister in the erstwhile Trinamool Congress(TMC) government, which was in power until May this year. Mukherjee further alleges that massArt was set up in June 2022 to market Durga Puja preview events.
Sen and massArt, however, had denied these allegations in the past and maintained their involvement with UNESCO, including financial assistance being promised to massArt. Durga Puja was inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2021, which has given a boost to several commercial opportunities during the biggest Bengali festival of the year.
