Kolkata Police have summoned Averi Sen, daughter of former West Bengal minister Indranil Sen, to appear at Lalbazar, the city police headquarters, for questioning in the alleged fake Durga Puja pass case, reports said on Monday. Investigators said a preliminary inquiry indicated that a portion of the money generated from the alleged sale of fake passes had been transferred to a bank account linked to her, making her questioning essential to establish the financial trail.

Source: Nation Press

According to investigators, a company called Third Line Creation transferred Rs 66 lakh to Mass Art, the firm owned by Indranil Sen's wife Madhuchhanda Sen, and Rs 22.47 lakh of that amount was allegedly routed on to two firms, iScape and Mayra, which police suspect have links to Averi Sen. The transfers are allegations under investigation and have not been established in court.

Source: Particle News

Rs 66 lakhTransferred by Third Line Creation to Mass Art, police say
Rs 22.47 lakhAllegedly routed on to iScape and Mayra, firms suspected to be linked to Averi Sen
10 NovemberIndranil Sen's next production before a city court
3Parallel probes: Kolkata Police, ED and a judicial inquiry panel

The case centres on allegedly fraudulent passes carrying the UNESCO heritage tag that were sold for festival tours and preview shows linked to Kolkata's Durga Puja, which was inscribed on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2021. Several Durga Puja organisers told police they agreed to preview shows after being shown the UNESCO logo and offered small payments and LED-gate deals, according to investigators.

Indranil Sen, a singer-turned-politician who served as Minister of State for Information and Cultural Affairs and as Tourism Minister, was arrested by Kolkata Police last week after he emerged from the Enforcement Directorate's Salt Lake office, where he had faced prolonged questioning. He is in police custody and is due before a city court again on November 10. His wife Madhuchhanda Sen was questioned at Lalbazar last week after securing anticipatory bail from a single-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court.

Three probes are now running in parallel. Kolkata Police and the Enforcement Directorate are conducting separate investigations — the ED's probe is based on the FIR registered against Sen and others — while a judicial inquiry committee constituted by the state government and headed by retired Calcutta High Court judge Justice Biswajit Basu is examining alleged irregularities in the tendering process during Sen's tenure as a minister. All the allegations remain under investigation, and no court has pronounced on them.