During his interrogation by CBI, Saradha Group chairman Sudipta Sen on Friday revealed four new names of “influential” persons while East Bengal Club official Debabrata Sarkar disclosed the names of two more football club officials. All the four named by Mr Sen were political leaders two of them are MPs and two are ministers. He told his interrogators that the four had taken crores from him for providing political patronage. Although CBI officers had extensively grilled him in June, when he was in their custody, Mr Sen had not mentioned these names. CBI sources said that Mr Sen’s earlier reluctance was possibly prompted by his concern for the safety of his family members and his own life.
Significantly on Thursday, Mr Sen had told the Alipore court that he was keen to reveal more names to the CBI. Mr Sarkar told the CBI that he had invested money, collected from the Saradha owner, into the business of those two club officials.
The breakthrough came during cross-examination of Mr Sen and Mr Sarkar, who were brought face-to-face for the first time.