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Kolkata, Oct 25 (IANS) Tahseen Ahmed, son of Shakeel Ahmed alias Master Shakeel, co-president of the minority wing of the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal’s West Burdwan district, who absconded earlier this week after being involved in the Rs 350 crore chit fund scam in the state, was finally arrested by the state police on Saturday evening.
State police sources said he was arrested from a Jharkhand-bound bus run by an interstate bus service operator near Chandrachud intersection on National Highway 19. He had plans to escape to Jharkhand. Gold worth Rs 31 lakh was seized from his possession.
The main charge against Tahseen Ahmed was that he collected deposits of about Rs 350 crore from around 3,000 individuals in Asansol through an unlicensed corporate entity operating from the industrial township of Asansol in West Burdwan district.
He promised to give 14 percent monthly return i.e. a return of Rs 2.8 lakh on an investment of Rs 1 lakh in 20 months. However, he absconded on October 15, which was the day to pay returns to depositors.
Instead, they released a video message on their social media page wall expressing their inability to pay assured returns to depositors by the promised deadline of October 20.
The matter was first made public on Thursday by Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari through a social media post, where he also shared Tehseen Ahmed’s video message.
In his post, the Leader of Opposition demanded the immediate arrest of Tehseen Ahmed as well as a probe by central agencies like the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) into the matter. He also demanded full payment of deposits collected by the said entity to the depositors.
Later, BJP’s information technology cell chief and party’s central observer for West Bengal Amit Malviya also made a similar post on his social media handle, alleging that most of the depositors who lost their money by investing in the said entity were from the Muslim community.
The Trinamool Congress leadership had already started distancing itself from both the accused and his father. Mahfuzul Hasan, president of Trinamool Congress’ minority wing in West Burdwan district, said neither Tahseen Ahmed nor his father Shakeel Ahmed have any connection with the ruling party now.
Hasan said, “Shakeel Ahmed was earlier the co-chairman of our party’s minority cell in West Burdwan district. But at present he has no connection with the party.”
–IANS
Source/UK