Kolkata: An accused in Saradha chit fund scam and suspended Trinamool MP, Kunal Ghosh, attempted suicide late Thursday night according to the police.
Arrested in November last year, he has been in Kolkata’s Presidency Jail ever since.
Ghosh took 58 sleeping pills and then informed jail officials that he had taken them, police said. His stomach was then reportedly washed and he is out of danger.
Ghosh was the chief of Saradha Group’s media operations. On Monday, he had threatened in court that he will take his own life if the “real culprits” behind the scam are not arrested.
“Investigation is being influenced. It is not acceptable that I will rot in jail while those involved will roam freely. I am giving three days’ time, if action is not taken I will commit suicide,” Ghosh had said.
Ghosh was the only Trinamool leader who was named in the CBI’s first charge sheet in the Saradha case, which is being investigated in Bengal and Odisha.
The Saradha Group operated a Ponzi scheme offering massive returns of 40% and more until it collapsed last year, leaving lakhs of small investors bankrupt in West Bengal and Odisha. The collapse triggered huge protests; three investors committed suicide.
The Supreme Court had in July ordered the CBI to probe “the involvement of higher-ups including politicians and aspects of money laundering.”