Actress Rituparna Sengupta finally left the Enforcement Directorate (ED) office at Salt Lake here at around 6.30 p.m. after over five hours of questioning in connection with the multi-crore ration distribution scam in West Bengal and said that she had fully cooperated with the investigators.
“The ED officials had sought some documents from me. I have handed over those documents to them. They have cooperated with me just as I cooperated with them. The investigating officials are happy with my cooperation. I cannot make any further comment on the matter right at this moment,” she said before leaving the Central Government Office (CGO) complex where the ED office is located.
However, she refused to give any specific answer on the exact matters she was questioned on or what were the documents that she had handed over to the central agency officials.
She arrived at the ED office at 1 p.m. to join the probe and before that, her personal accountant reached there with files containing the paper documents.
The accountant claimed that since he handles the financial and accounting matters of the actress, he had also come to explain the matters to the investigating officials.
Sources said that the name of Sengupta surfaced while the central agency officials were examining the documents related to an accused corporate in the ration distribution case.
On May 30, the ED issued the first notice to Sengupta asking her to be present for interrogation on June 5. However, at that time the actress skipped the appearance on grounds that she was abroad then.
Subsequently, on June 6, she was served another notice by the ED, asking her to be present at the central agency office on Wednesday. This time, she appeared.
This is not the first time that Sengupta has been summoned by the ED. In 2019, she was summoned by the ED in connection with the multi-crore Rose Valley chit-fund scam.
She was summoned then for her involvement in some of the entertainment projects, including films, promoted by the Rose Valley Group. It was alleged that the films were produced using the money laundered by the Rose Valley Group through its various marketing schemes promising the investors lucrative returns.
