Kolkata: A day before he was scheduled to appear for questioning at the CBI office in connection with the Saradha chit fund scam, West Bengal Transport and Sports Minister Madan Mitra was Thursday admitted to the state's largest government hospital with a complaint of breathing disorder.
Mitra, who was admitted in a private nursing home since Nov 18, left the health facility and reached SSKM Hospital Thursday afternoon and was admitted in the Woodburn ward, reserved for VIPs.
SSKM director Pradip Mitra said the minister complained of dyspnea (breathing problems). He was undergoing a series of tests.
A journalist, who was with Madan Mitra just before he left the nursing home, claimed the minister "left suddenly" without taking even his security guard with him.
However, nursing home sources said the minister was discharged in the afternoon.
Mitra has been summoned by the Central Bureau of Investigation for interrogation in the multi-crore-rupee scandal that led to lakhs of poor people losing their lives' savings by parking their funds in companies of the Saradha group, lured by the promise of returns much higher than market rates.
The CBI has also summoned Trinamool Congress parliamentarian Srinjoy Bose.
The summons to both the Trinamool leaders comes days after the probe agency submitted its second chargesheet in the scam and a failed suicide bid by suspended Trinamool Rajya Sabha member Kunal Ghosh who is behind bars.
Many Trinamool leaders have been arrested and interrogated by the CBI in connection with the scam.
The Trinamool sought to defend Mitra by claiming that summons by the CBI did not tantamount to being guilty.
"CBI can summon anyone they like. But if someone is summoned by the CBI, it doesn't prove him guilty," Trinamool leader and Panchayat Minister Subrata Mukherjee said.
