Kolkata: ED issues Ponzi summons to Rituparna Sengupta’s company

KOLKATA: Enforcement Directorate has summoned Tollywood actor Rituparna Sengupta’s company, Bhavna Aaj O Kal, in connection with its probe into the Rose Valley group’s venture into the entertainment industry.
Sengupta has been asked to appear at the ED office in Salt Lake’s CGO complex on July 18, a day before actor Prosenjit Chatterjee is scheduled to appear. Currently in the US to attend a Bengali conference, she said: “I have received the notice and will try to cooperate with the agency. As an artiste, I had an association with the company and performed in two of the movies they produced. Apart from that, my company has produced two reality shows for them. We have all the documents to support the transactions.”
Her professional attachment with the group started in 2009 and continued for around four years. She appeared in two films — ‘Chander Bari’ and ‘Biye Not Out’ — produced by it. Her company also produced two reality shows — ‘Dance Pe Chance’ and ‘Boudimoni’ — for the group’s entertainment channel.
Central agency sources said Rose Valley chairman Gautam Kundu, arrested by ED in March 2015, had claimed Sengupta and her company was paid more than Rs 7 crore by group companies. ED officials, trying to corroborate this, are likely to find out the actual amount Sengupta received.
On Wednesday, Kundu’s lawyer Biplab Goswami moved the special PMLA court over his statutory bail plea under Section 436A CrPC. “He has already served more than half the punishment. Under Section 4 of the act, a convict is jailed for a maximum of seven years. The court is to hear his bail plea on July 16,” Goswami said.
Central agency sources said Kundu had invested over Rs 100 crore in entertainment ventures. ED, which has started following the cash trail, may summon a few more persons from the entertainment industry.
Also on Wednesday, painter Suvaprasanna appeared before CBI in connection with Saradha Ponzi probe.