A day after chief minister Mamata Banerjee ordered the arrest of Sudipta Sen, chairman and managing director (CMD) of Saradha Group, a large number of collection agents of the chit fund company laid seige to her residence at Kalighat residence demanding her intervention. Most of them hailed from the districts and owed allegiance to the ruling Trinamul Congress.
At around 3 pm over 1,000 agents occupied the road in front of the chief minister’s residence giving a tough time to the security personnel. They demanded the return of the principal amount collected by the company so that they could hand it over to their depositors. They also demanded Mr Sen’s arrest. The agitators alleged that they were facing threats from investors and had fled homes in fear.
The agitation continued till 6.45 pm. Following Ms Banerjee’s instruction the intelligence branch of the West Bengal police and the other state police units issuing a look-out notice for the company’s accused CMD.
A couple of days ago, these agents had visited Trinamul Bhavan and met party MP Mukul Roy and industry minister Partha Chatterjee demanding the government’s intervention. The state government as well as the ruling party are clearly feeling the heat because Saradha Group was considered very close to Ms Banerjee.