CBI questions painter on Devkripa shareholding

KOLKATA: A day after he appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED), painter Shuvaprasanna Bhattacharya was on Tuesday questioned by CBI in connection with the Saradha probe.
Shuvaprasanna told reporters that he had come to submit documents about Devkripa Vyapar Pvt Ltd, the holding company of Akhon Samay, a news channel he sold to Saradha chief Sudipta Sen. CBI sleuths, however, said they needed certain clarifications from him about shareholders of his company.
ED officials visited Arts Acre, owned by Shuvaprasanna, to examine the nature of investments made there.
The painter sought permission from CBI to join investigations in the second half of the day, which was granted.
Shuvaprasanna went to a public event, attended by UK minister of culture Sajid Javid, and spoke effusively about Arts Acre. He went to the CBI office after that. Later, talking to reporters, he denied selling the channel — that never went on air — at an inflated price. “I have nothing to hide. I have been asked to submit papers about the deal which was done legally,” he said.
The same day, CBI again opened a bank locker that was allegedly operated by East Bengal’s de-facto secretary Debabrata Sarkar. Till late night, CBI officers did not say why they suddenly opened the locker, whose original owner was former East Bengal top official Paltu Das.
Meanwhile, Rose Valley chief Gautam Kundu visited the ED office for the second time on Tuesday. Sources said Kundu was asked a few questions pertaining to some of their schemes.