CBI arrests ex-minister's wife Manoranjana, grills Tapas Paul

Kolkata: The CBI on Wednesday arrested Manoranjana Sinh, estranged wife of former union minister and Congress leader Matang Sinh, and grilled cinestar-turned Trinamool Congress MP Tapas Paul in connection with the multi-crore-rupee Saradha and Rose Valley ponzi scams.

The CBI had earlier arrested Matang Sinh in this connection.

"Yes, we have arrested Manoranjana Sinh," a CBI spokesperson told IANS over phone.

Manoranjana was summoned to the CBI's Special Crime Branch in the satellite township of Salt Lake and taken into custody after hours of questioning.

The CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had since 2014 been quizzing Manoranjana, -- who along with many other high-profile names -- has been accused of complicity in the scam by Saradha group head and kingpin Sudipta Sen in his 2013 tell-all letter to the CBI.

Manoranjana, a former journalist, had allegedly sold her shares in an audio-visual channel to the Saradha Group.

She had also purportedly taken Sen to the lawyer-wife of a former union minister for settling a deal, Sen claimed in the letter.

Paul, who represents Krishnanagar Lok Sabha constituency in Nadia district, was quizzed about Rose Valley, in which he was a former director in one of its group firms.

In March, CBI sleuths, as part of a crackdown on Rose Valley, raided Paul's Kolkata residence.