New Delhi:
In a major jolt to the Bengali film fraternity, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday summoned noted actor Prosenjit Chatterjee in connection with the Rose Valley Chit Fund case. Chatterjee has been asked to appear before the agency on July 19. The summon is issued given to the fact that the Shanghai actor, in distant past, was seen sharing stage with Rose Valley Group chairman Gautam Kundu at several events of the Kolkata-based ponzi firm. Therefore, the ED will investigate whether there was any monetary transaction between Chatterjee and Kundu as part of the financial scandal.
"Actor Prosenjit Chatterjee summoned by Enforcement Directorate in connection with Rose Valley scam case. He has been asked to appear before ED on July 19," the news agency ANI reported.
Actor Prosenjit Chatterjee summoned by Enforcement Directorate in connection with Rose Valley scam case. He has been asked to appear before ED on July 19. pic.twitter.com/7BTl1LUkQv
— ANI (@ANI) July 9, 2019
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The summon against Chattejee comes just a day after Trinamool Congress leader Madan Mitra was interrogated by the ED in connection with the major financial scam case. This was the first time that Mitra was enquired in this connection and his statements were recorded. The West Bengal minister had been grilled by the law enforcement agency for over four hours on Monday.
Mitra, who was the then transport minister, was arrested in 2014 by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for his alleged connection with the multi-crore Saradha ponzi scam. He served a jail term of over 21 months before getting bail.
According to the ED estimates, the Rose Valley scandal is at least five times the Saradha ponzi scam. The agency had arrested its chairman Gautam Kundu and attached his assets worth Rs 2,300 crore, including hotels and resorts. Multiple charge sheets had been filed by the ED in the courts of Kolkata and Bhubaneswar in connection to the same.
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Prosenjit, the 56-year-old Tollywood superstar, who also tried hands in several Bollywood movies, including Imram Hashmi and Kalki Koechlin-starrer Shanghai, is widely regarded as one of the greatest and influential actors in the history of Indian cinema. Some of Chatterjee's blockbuster movies include Srijit Mukherji's Autograph, Rituparno Ghosh directorial Shob Charitro Kalponik, Dosar, Paoli Dam starrer Moner Manush and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan's debut Bengali film Chokher Bali among others.
