Kolkata: A record label and recording studio run by singer and former state minister Indranil Sen paid Rs 30 lakh to former Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, Enforcement Directorate alleged on Thursday.The ED — now questioning Sen as part of its probe into a Rs 60 crore Durga Puja pass scam — said the money went from Octave Records, a company he ran. The central agency on Wednesday questioned Sen from 11 am to 8 pm, a day after it raided 15 addresses belonging to him and his aides and relatives.Sen did not respond to questions from reporters while entering or leaving ED’s Kolkata headquarters.Mamata Trinamool spokesperson and Beleghata MLA Kunal Ghosh dismissed ED’s contention as “a politically motivated effort to distort the truth”.“Mamata Banerjee has received royalties for her books, lyrics and music compositions for a long time. Sen’s organisation is involved in marketing those songs across the state and beyond and has been paying her royalty for that. It is a long-standing, standard practice. Her songs are popular and are played on public platforms. A lyricist or music composer receiving royalty is standard procedure. It was not paid in cash but through banking transactions after deducting tax at source (TDS) in a fully legal manner. This income has been duly declared in her income-tax returns. She cannot be linked to the independent actions of a company. Aspersions are being cast over her legitimate earnings,” Ghosh added.The ED’s two-page release posted on X said “more than Rs 3.8 crore (cash) was deposited into the bank accounts of Sen and his proprietorship concern (Octave Records) during his tenure”. “Nearly Rs 30 lakh was transferred from the bank account of Octave Records via banking channels to Mamata Banerjee, then CM, which Sen claimed was paid … (as) royalty,” the statement added.It did not specify whether the fund transfer to Banerjee was part of its ongoing money-laundering probe against the former minister and his wife (Madhuchhanda Sen, president of massArt).Calcutta High Court is hearing an anticipatory bail petition filed by Sen and his wife. Justice Tirthankar Ghosh heard their plea last month and would be hearing it again on Monday.The ED has alleged Sen, his kin and other massArt office-bearers “systematically commercialised viewing Durga Puja, effectively converting a public festival into a commercial enterprise for personal gain”. “The accused, operating through massArt, sold tickets to the public priced from Rs 1,749 to Rs 5,499 for ‘preview shows’ across 24 Durga Puja pandals in Kolkata. A core element of this fraudulent scheme was massArt’s deceptive and unauthorised exploitation of the official name, goodwill and logo of Unesco for commercial purposes,” ED has added.“The investigation has revealed that more than 1 lakh such tickets were issued over a two-year period (2023 and 2024). The proceeds were subsequently siphoned off, either through cash withdrawals from bank accounts or by being written off under the guise of miscellaneous expenses,” ED said.ED on Thursday also said “multiple tenders from the tourism and cultural department of more than Rs 85 crore were awarded to entities owned by Dhrubajyoti Bose and Dipesh Roy” during Sen’s tenure as a Bengal minister. “Both are known to be Sen’s close associates. They subsequently transferred large sums of money to entities controlled by Sen’s relatives,” ED has charged, adding that there were “massive cash withdrawals from bank accounts of the entities that secured these tenders”.
