NEW DELHI: Former TMC minister Indranil Sen was arrested by Kolkata Police on Wednesday in connection with alleged financial irregularities involving Durga Puja preview shows and the sale of privileged-entry passes. Chief minister Suvendu Adhikari alleged that former West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee may also have benefited from the money collected in the alleged scam.Sen, a singer who held the tourism and culture portfolios in the previous Trinamool Congress government, was arrested after being questioned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Kolkata Police. The investigation concerns alleged irregularities by MassArt Society, with which Sen, his wife Madhuchhanda and their associates were allegedly associated.Reacting to the arrest, Adhikari said Sen and Banerjee shared a close association, often travelling and singing together. “It would be a mistake to think that Indranil Sen took the money alone. He must have shared it with Mamata Banerjee. She may also have had a share,” he alleged.Adhikari also referred to their rendition of the popular Nazrul Sangeet ‘Amar Jawar Samay’ at a public programme last year. “I have heard their last song… It said, ‘It is time for me to leave; bid me farewell’,” he said, adding that “institutional thieves will have to go to jail”.The chief minister alleged that Sen had received several lakhs of rupees from the state Information and Cultural Affairs Department through an event management company floated in his wife’s name. He also accused Sen of taking money from envelopes meant for artistes and using the proceeds to construct a farmhouse in Singur. These allegations have not been established in court.The case originated from a complaint filed by Jaideep Mukherjee at Kolkata’s Bowbazar police station. The ED subsequently launched a separate investigation.According to the allegations, MassArt Society collected money between 2022 and 2025 from people seeking privileged entry to Durga Puja celebrations, allegedly claiming to be a UNESCO-sponsored entity despite having no such commercial agreement with the organisation.
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The ED’s preliminary estimate puts the alleged irregularities at Rs 50-60 crore.The society, established after Durga Puja received UNESCO intangible cultural heritage recognition in 2021, has Madhuchhanda Sen as its president, the agency said.Sen was questioned by ED officials for at least four hours at the agency’s CGO Complex office in Salt Lake before Kolkata Police took him to its headquarters at Lalbazar.He had approached the Calcutta High Court for anticipatory bail, but his plea was rejected. He subsequently challenged the order in the Supreme Court.