Former Bengal minister Indranil Sen appears before ED again in Durga Puja pass case; no arrest reported

The agency's preliminary estimate of the amount involved is Rs 50 to 60 crore. Some reports give a higher figure, up to about Rs 140 crore.

The case began with a complaint by Jaideep Mukherjee at the Bowbazar police station, which led to a first information report, after which the Enforcement Directorate started its own investigation. The complainant says that an impression of direct association with, or approval from, UNESCO was created, although the organisation had entered into no such commercial agreement.

The office-bearers of the society are reported to be Madhuchhanda Sen, who is the president, Dhrubajyoti Bose, the secretary, Sayantan Mitra, the vice-president, and Ranjan Chatterjee, the treasurer. Madhuchhanda Sen is the wife of Indranil Sen, and she and his associates are also under scrutiny. Sen was a minister in the previous Trinamool Congress government, in the tourism and culture area, and he and his wife deny the allegations.

How the investigation has moved

The agency searched about 10 premises linked to Sen, including his house in Kasba and a garden house in Singur in Hooghly district, and then summoned him. He was questioned on 30 September for more than eight hours, and again on 7 October, and he has been questioned several times in the case. Wednesday's appearance is at least the third time.

Sen applied to the Calcutta High Court for protection from arrest in the form of anticipatory bail, and the court rejected the application, according to a report dated 15 October. He then challenged that order in the Supreme Court, and the reports do not give the outcome of that appeal. Without the protection of an order, an arrest by the agency after questioning is possible in law, which is why his appearances are watched closely.

UNESCO added Durga Puja in Kolkata to its list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity in December 2021, and the agency's case is that the passes were sold on the claim of a link with that recognition which did not exist in the form that buyers were led to believe.

A state judicial inquiry commission is separately examining what are described as multi-crore irregularities in the tendering process of the Information and Cultural Affairs Department, where Sen served as a minister of state. It is not part of the Enforcement Directorate's case.

The Prevention of Money Laundering Act allows the agency to arrest a person if it has reason to believe, on the basis of material in its possession, that the person is guilty of laundering. The agency must tell the person the grounds of the arrest and produce them before a special court within 24 hours. Bail under the Act is subject to stricter conditions than in ordinary cases, which is why anticipatory bail and the Supreme Court appeal matter in a case of this kind.

The next steps are whether the agency calls Sen again, whether it files a prosecution complaint against the society and its office-bearers, and what the Supreme Court does with his appeal. Until then, the allegations remain allegations. The agency has made them in the course of an investigation, and the people named have denied them, and no court has found anyone guilty.