Three months and I will tell names: Sen

OUR BUREAU

Calcutta, May 19: Sudipta Sen today said outside Baruipur court that he "had to pay and please a section of people" to run his business and he would reveal the details "after three months". His response came when some journalists asked Sen which politicians he had bribed. Sen, who was leaving for the New Town police station, said: "I had to pay and please a section of people to run my business smoothly. I cannot deny this because the truth is a truth. Yes, I had to manage certain things…. You wait, I will speak on it after three months." Sen today spoke in a court for the first time when he told the additional chief judicial magistrate that he had no problem with police remand but requested that his police custody not be extended beyond 14 days because of his cardiac problem. "I have already spent 24 days in police custody and I am ready to spend another 14 days in a police lock-up. But I have a cardiac problem and it will be better if the tenure in police custody is not extended further," said Sen. He was remanded in police custody for 10 days. Sen was produced in Baruipur court today in connection with a case lodged by an agent and depositor Manik Chakraborty, who accused Sen of defrauding him of Rs 5 lakh. Sen's statement on having no problem with police custody took lawyers and police officers by surprise because most undertrials want police custody to end and prefer custody in jail, where facilities are better than in a lock-up. Sen was brought to the Baruipur court in a prison van from Dum Dum central jail around 1.20pm and produced before additional chief judicial magistrate Debdeep Manna. Sen, standing in the grilled enclosure, interrupted when his lawyer Samir Das stood up to argue. "Samirbabu, ami kichu bolte chai (Samirbabu, I want to say something)," Sen shouted. As the courtroom was packed with lawyers, policemen and journalists, magistrate Manna could not hear Sen. Das brought it to the magistrate's notice. Sen said in English: "I am penniless. There is no single inch of land in my name. All the assets were purchased in the name Saradha Realty." He then spoke about having "no problem" with police custody. After Sen's plea, his lawyer Das said the accused had disclosed everything to Bidhannagar police and there was no reason to remand him in police custody again. After the half-an-hour hearing, Sen was remanded in police custody till May 28. Speaking to scribes while leaving the court, Sen said: "I am not a man with money-marketing experience and I don't understand its chemistry. I never got a good team to work…. Fake money receipts were generated to create false liabilities," he said. Over 1,000 depositors and agents had gathered outside the court to protest when Sen was brought to the court today. Police resorted to lathicharge. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1130520/jsp/bengal/story_16917476.jsp