Trinamool Congress MP Shatabdi Roy has returned Rs 30.64 lakh to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) which she had received from Saradha Group as the brand ambassador. According to a report in The Indian Express, Roy handed a bank draft to ED officials on Monday.
“Yes, I have sent the money,” Roy, who represents Birbhum constituency in the Lok Sabha, told reporters after the bank draft was delivered through a messenger.
The development comes almost a month after Roy in a written communication to the ED said that she was willing to return the amount which she had earned from the group for being the brand ambassador. The ED had interrogated Roy multiple times in connection with the scam.
The actress-turned-politician had signed a Rs 49 lakh contract with the Saradha Group to work as its brand ambassador. She, however, had claimed to receive only around Rs 31 lakh of the contract amount. On July 31, Roy had written to the ED expressing her desire to return the money which she had received.
The contract between Roy and the group was signed when the scam was operating illegal collective investment schemes and mobilising huge money from the public with the promise of high returns.
Roy was one of the brand ambassadors of Saradha Group. The chit fund company collapsed in April 2013 after thousands of investors and agents. The group collected around Rs 2,500 crore from over 17 lakh people before it collapsed. Initially, the case was being probed by the Special Task Force (STF) of West Bengal Police. However, the CBI later took up the case after the Supreme Court’s direction.
Several Trinamool Congress leaders and Bengali film actors like Prasenjit Chatterjee, Rituparna Sengupta, and Madan Mitra had been interrogated by the investigating agency in connection with the scam.
