Kolkata carpet-trader blasts Trinamool 'quick-rich leaders'

Kolkata carpet-trader Maulana Asif Khan, once the close aide of Trinamool Congress general secretary Mukul Roy, has exploded in rage against 'quick-rich' Trinamool Congress leaders, a day after his name figured in a media report about illegal trans-regional money movement.

Late on Friday, Khan told a TV channel (which is repeating the story on Saturday) alleging that several Trinamool leaders have amassed huge fortunes over the past 3-4 years.

Khan is originally said to be from Bangladesh's Teknaf.

"I have seen some of these leaders going to sleep without food. Now these leaders command assets worth Rs 500 crore to Rs 1,000 crore. I do not know who gave them the money or from where it was accumulated. It must be good for all of them is my only guess," Asif told the TV news channel.

Asif's house was raided by India's Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Aug 29 for alleged links to the Saradha scam.

Asif is editor of Aajker Kalom — the reincarnated version of Saradha publication Kalom — and was convenor of Trinamool's Uttar Pradesh unit.

The original version of 'Kalom' was edited for a long time by Ahmed Hassan Imran, said to be a leader of the radical (and now disbanded) Student Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), who is now close to Trinamool chief and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

Ahmed Hassan Imran

Imran is now a Trinamool Congress lawmaker in Rajya Sabha after his controversial election, in which crores is said to have changed hands for horse trading to ensure his victory.

Asif's statement is likely to stir a hornet's nest in the party, where junior leaders, whenever linked to scams, have lashed out at senior leaders and exposed their corrupt ways.

Mukul Roy's son, too, had sparked controversy some time ago by saying that "fortune seekers" were grabbing all the limelight in Trinamool. So political circles here link Asif's tirade to Mukul Roy's growing differences with Mamata Banerjee, especially after his ' I have no idea' comment on Banerjee favouring Saradha Tours and Travels with a railway contract during her tenure as India's railway minister.

Roy was also railway minister after Banerjee came back as Chief Minister and fell out with lawmaker Dinesh Trivedi who had been elevated to succeed her.

Mukul Roy

Suspended Trinamool MP Kunal Ghosh had alleged two days after his arrest in November last year that the Trinamool top leadership met Saradha mastermind Sudipta Sen at Delo near Kalimpong in March 2012 on the sidelines of an official tour of chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

Sources say CBI now wants to question Ghosh on his sensational allegation.

There is enough indication that the CBI is getting close to the high and mighty in Trinamool ranks as Prime Minister Narendra Modi is taking personal interest in the investigations.

Mamata Banerjee, who had blasted Narendra Modi and even said he should be dragged to prison during the May 2014 polls, is now seeking an appointment with the Prime Minister -- without much success so far.

Mukul Roy's meeting with Home Minister Rajnath Singh has also not helped in cooling the heat of the Saradha scam investigations.

And the money trail of this scam seems to have crucial political linkages to efforts to destabilise the Sheikh Hasina regime in Bangladesh, much as it seems to have played a role in ousting the Left from West Bengal in 2011.