Puja pass sale case: Former Minister Indranil Sen detained by Kolkata Police as he appears for ED questioning

TMC leader and former West Bengal tourism and culture minister Indranil Sen was arrested by the Kolkata Police late Wednesday evening, a senior police officer said.

Earlier on Wednesday evening, Sen was detained by the Kolkata Police for questioning in the Puja pass case, after he appeared before the Enforcement Directorate in connection with a money laundering probe in the same matter. He was questioned by the ED for at least four hours before the police team detained him and took him to Lal Bazar for questioning.

On Thursday, Sen will be produced before the court, where the police will seek his custody for further investigation.

The ED had summoned Sen at its Kolkata office in connection with its probe into alleged financial irregularities in holding Durga Puja preview shows and the sale of passes between 2022 and 2025.

According to police sources, Sen did not comply with the police summons and had instead moved the Calcutta High Court where his anticipatory bail was rejected. He then moved the Supreme Court, where the matter is yet to be heard. Police sources said they received a tip-off that Sen will be appearing before the ED on Wednesday, and a huge police contingent moved to the CGO complex, where Sen was picked up at around 5 pm by the Kolkata Police Detective Department Special Cell and taken to Lal Bazar, where he was questioned and later arrested.

The case

In June this year, an FIR was filed against the former TMC minister, his wife Madhuchanda Sen, and officials of MassArt Society over allegations of illegally selling high-priced Durga Puja preview tickets and privileged passes using the name and logo of UNESCO. The case originated from a complaint lodged by one Jaideep Mukherjee at Bowbazar police station in Kolkata.

The accused allegedly formed MassArt Society in 2022 and falsely claimed an official partnership with UNESCO to market high-priced donor passes and pre-Puja entry tickets for personal and financial gains. They were booked under relevant sections of the BNS, including criminal breach of trust, cheating, forgery, using forged documents, and criminal conspiracy.

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The Mahanirban Road MassArt Society is an NGO founded in 2022, focused on art and culture in West Bengal.

Speaking to The Indian Express on Wednesday, a senior police officer said, “The exact amount of alleged cheating and money trail is still being verified… No precise figure can be commented at present. But he has been arrested, and a complaint has been made that the amount is around Rs 34 crore.”

The ED probe

The Enforcement Directorate had earlier said that during the investigation, the agency found that a sum of nearly Rs 30 lakh was transferred via banking channels to former chief minister Mamata Banerjee, which, Indranil Sen has claimed, was paid in the form of royalty.

In September, the ED had raided 15 premises across Kolkata in connection with the case, including the residential and office premises of Sen and office bearers of the MassArt Society.

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MassArt Society has Madhuchhanda Sen as its president, Dhrubajyoti Bose as secretary, Sayantan Mitra as vice-President and Ranjan Chatterjee as treasurer, the ED said.

The investigation has revealed that over a two-year period (2023 and 2024) alone, more than one lakh Puja preview tickets were issued, the agency said.

According to the ED, during search and seizure proceedings, incriminating digital devices and documentary evidence were found and seized under appropriate provisions, and further investigation is under progress.

BJP’s door closed to Sen, says CM

Addressing a press conference after chairing a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari reacted to Sen’s arrest.

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Adhikari said , “Investigation was going on for a long time both by the ED and Kolkata Police, they must have got evidence. I have nothing to say on this… Former CM (Mamata Banerjee) may also have a share, he used to roam around in her car and also sing with her.”

Adhikari then sang a song, adding, “I also heard the last song: ‘Amar jabar somoy holo, dao bidai’ (it is time for me to go, bid me farewell).”

Alleging that Sen had illegally taken money during his tenure as a minister in the previous TMC government, Adhikari said: “He used to take money out of the envelopes of singers, he has huge property. He has taken money from the Information Technology Department in the name of his wife’s event management company. He has built a farmhouse in Singur. We did not even get more living space than our two-room flat.”

Saying that the BJP’s door was closed to him, Adhikari added: “He was the blue-eyed boy of the CPI(M). He was associated with the NGO of the late former Chief Minister’s daughter. He changes shape from time to time, just as water takes the shape of its container… He had started praising us after the change of government. That will not work with us; the BJP’s door is closed (for him).”

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Adhikari claimed Sen was a close associate of Mamata. “We knew that Mamata and Indranil were complementary to each other. It would be wrong to say that he profited alone. Just as he used to feed and benefit from the CPI(M) earlier… He was the CPI(M)’s biggest campaigner. Likewise, he also fed and benefitted from Mamata. What is destined to happen is happening. All institutional thieves will have to go to jail.”