West Bengal: CBI books Babul Supriyo's former PA in corruption case

Kolkata: CBI has lodged an FIR against Sushanta Mallick, former PA of former union minister Babul Supriyo for allegedly taking bribe in the Engineering Projects (India) Ltd (EPIL) tender scam case.

According to CBI sources, one Ashutosh Bandhopdhyay had transferred Rs five lakhs out of Rs 40 lakh bribe in the bank account of Mallick in December 2016.

“SPS Bakshi, the then CMD, EPIL, Harcharan Pal, the then Executive Director, EPIL, Paritosh Kumar Praveen, the then Manager (Grade-Il), EPIL, RS Tyagi, the then DGM (on contract), EPIL had demanded a bribe of 40 lakhs from Ashutosh Bandhopadhyay to get him the EPIL tender in 2016-2017,” said the CBI sources.

However, the central agencies didn’t mention Babul’s name in the FIR.

Slamming the CBI, the TMC MLA Babul Supriyo claimed that he doesn’t have any record of ‘corruption’.

“The Central government has lowered the position of CBI. The CBI is unnecessarily digging for old skeletons. Sushanta Mallick was an experienced man and I was new to the parliament so he was there to help me. But later I removed him from the post. No charges can be found against me,” said Babul.

TMC spokesperson and state general secretary Kunal Ghosh said that TMC will look into the matter and also slammed the BJP-led Central government for their alleged political vendetta.

“Babul was the union minister and BJP MP. He didn’t lower himself but after resigning he walked out of that party. BJP will now do everything to slam Babul,” said Ghosh.

Ghosh also slammed Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar for not ‘cooperating’ and administering the oath of Babul in the Assembly.

Meanwhile, Assembly Speaker Biman Bandhopadhyay said that only the Governor can say why the process of Babul’s oath-taking ceremony is being delayed.

“The Governor can come and administer the oath but the actual reason for the delay is not known,” said the Speaker.

It can be recalled that the Governor had assigned Deputy Speaker to administer Babul’s oath but he has declined it as Speaker is present in the state.

Published on: Monday, May 09, 2022, 09:45 PM IST