Kolkata Police on Friday conducted raids on two premises of a non banking financial company Angela Mercantile Private Limited.
The firm is owned by Praveen Agarwal, whom former interim Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation M. Nageswara Rao had described as a "long -time family friend" in a statement on October 30, 2018.
Two premises of the the firm — at CA Block in Salt Lake and in Clive Row in Kolkata's Dalhousie area — were searched. These raids went on till late in the evening. According to Kolkata Police, the Mr. Agarwal has not registered his company as per the law.
In a statement on Friday, Mr. Rao denied any linkage with the firm with any of his family members. “I want to state that I had already clarified regarding through a signed press statement on 30th October 2018,” Mr Rao said.
In the earlier statement, Mr. Rao had said that his wife Mannem Sandhya took a loan of ₹25 lakh from M/s Angela Mercantile Private Limited in 2010, which was used in joint purchase of a property in Guntur. The statement said that the loan was repayed subsequently with interest.
The timing of the raid on the firm, however, has raised many eyebrows. This action came hours before the CBI was scheduled to question Kolkata Police chief Rajeev Kumar in connection with the Saradha scam.