Rose Valley case: ED letter to CBI was forged, say sources
BY MPost8 Jan 2017 11:20 PM GMT
MPost8 Jan 2017 11:20 PM GMT
A purported letter related to the Rs 17,000 crore Rose Valley scam sent by the Enforcement Directorate to the Central Bureau of Investigation is causing ripples in political circles. According to reports, the letter, containing names of more than a dozen politicians, has been forged, sources in ED claimed on Saturday.
The letter, issued more than a year back, had the initials of an ED official. According to sources in ED, no such letter with the reference number mentioned (ECIR/02/2015/KOL/A.K.S/ 822) was dispatched on July 14, 2015. The said letter, issued to SP CBI, Bhubaneswar read that the agency asked about the findings of the interrogation of Gautam Kundu, CMD of the Rose Valley group.
"The person was taken into police custody for 10 days and thoroughly interrogated. During interrogation, the following names, mostly political personalities of different political parties across the state and businessmen have been received," the letter read.
In the following pages of the letter, names of political leaders including Madan Mitra, Tapas Paul and Sudip Bandyopadhyay have appeared. In the letter, Mitra was referred to as the "Hon'ble MIC Govt of West Bengal". But Mitra had already resigned from the ministry at that time.
When contacted, an ED official said: "There are several pointers that prove that the letter is forged. We are mulling serious legal action against those who are using it."
According to ED sources, the size of the rubber stamp on the page is different from what is used by the agency. The look of the letterhead had also changed in 2015. Normally the rubber stamp is used when any official signs on the letter.
But there was no signature along with the rubber stamp. "Normally we do not use the rubber stamp on the first page of a letter. When ED officials started tracking the reference number of the letter, they found nothing.
What is a greater concern for ED officials is repeated instances of forging of the agency's letters. Earlier, fraudsters in Delhi managed to extort some persons on a forged summon. "We are contemplating serious action against this and a probe is on to find out how it could be done," said an ED official.
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