The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Kolkata Police probing Indranil Sen, former West Bengal Tourism Minister and former Minister of State for Information and Cultural Affairs, in connection with his alleged involvement in the multi-crore fake Durga Puja pass case linked to UNESCO-tagged festival tours, has identified as many as 150 tenders of those two government departments that were awarded to three corporate entities linked to Sen while he was in power. All 150 tenders were granted to the three entities during the five years from 2021 to 2026, when Sen was handling both ministerial portfolios simultaneously.

Source: IANS via HiIndia

"Preliminary investigation had revealed that tenders relating to these two departments, like Red Road Carnival, road decorations, celebrating Amitabh Bachchan's birthday, distributing prasad at the Jagannath Dev temple in Digha, and distributing sweets at various places, were granted to these three corporate entities linked to Sen, whose day-to-day operations were run by his close confidants, with the former West Bengal Minister having indirect but absolute control over the management of these three entities," a city police insider said. That is the investigators' account, relayed by a police insider; it has not been established in court.

The tender findings follow this week's expansion of the probe. Additional officers have been included in the SIT, taking it from five members to nine, with the four new officers described as experts in anti-forgery operations. Investigating officers are reported to have found specific clues about Sen's alleged involvement in tendering irregularities in both the state tourism and the information and cultural affairs departments, widening the scope of the investigation beyond the pass case, and SIT members are in touch with the two departments to procure the documents needed to carry the investigation forward. Sen, who is in police custody, is being questioned for marathon hours daily, and the SIT has questioned nine other people in the matter, including his wife Madhuchhanda Sen.

Source: Andhravilas (SIT probing ex-Bengal Minister Indranil Sen case expanded)

Mass Art claims and counter-claims

The city police's probe into the role of "Mass Art", the corporate entity owned by Sen's wife Madhuchhanda Sen, in the marketing of the fake UNESCO-tagged Durga Puja passes has led to what officers described as a matrimonial feud between the former minister and his wife. A city police officer said Sen has claimed his role was neither in decision-making nor in the day-to-day operations of Mass Art, and that any corporate decision was made by his wife, who owned the entity. "However, in the face of interrogation, Madhuchanda Sen had claimed that her ownership in 'Mass Art' was just on paper and all major decisions were taken by her husband and his second-in-command in the entity, Dhrubojyoti Basu," the officer said. Basu, who had been absconding since Sen's arrest last week, was arrested on Wednesday night — a development Awaaz Punjab reported in its coverage of the second arrest in the pass case.

Sen was arrested last week in the pass case and remanded to police custody; he is due to be presented before a lower court in Kolkata on November 10. The Kolkata Police and the Enforcement Directorate are conducting parallel investigations into the alleged scam involving passes for UNESCO-tagged Durga Puja tours. All of the allegations against Sen, his family members and the linked entities remain under investigation and have not been proved in court.