Trinamul Congress MP Nusrat Jahan said on Wednesday that she had taken a loan of over Rs 1.16 crore from an infrastructure company where she was one of the directors and returned the amount with interest.
The actress-cum-MP has rejected a charge that she had bought an apartment at Ballygunge here with the money that a section of senior citizens had deposited with the company for a real estate project.
A group of senior citizens, mostly retired employees of a nationalised bank, had complained to the Enforcement Directorate on Monday that the company, where Nusrat was once a director, had duped them of around Rs 24 crore. BJP leader Shankudeb Panda had accompanied the group to the ED office in Salt Lake.
Suvendu Adhikari, the leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, alleged on Tuesday that the Basirhat Trinamul MP had bought a flat worth Rs 1.55 crore by diverting the amount that the investors had deposited with the infrastructure company.
"There is an allegation that I bought an apartment with the proceeds of crime. I had taken a loan of Rs 1,16,30,285 from the company," Jahan told journalists at the Calcutta Press Club on Wednesday afternoon.
"I returned Rs 1,40,71,995 with interest to the company on May 6, 2017. I resigned from the company in April 2017 and held no shares."
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee lent her support to Jahan and said one could always level charges against someone but there shouldn't be a media trial. "If there is any truth, then the law will take its own course. Nusrat will fight her case. There are lawyers who will speak about this better," Mamata told journalists on Wednesday.
Panda had alleged that the company had struck a deal with the senior citizens in 2014 to hand over 3BHK flats to them through a cooperative society on a plot in New Town, close to Eco Park. But the investors didn't get the flats, the BJP leader said.
"I have not turned up to offer any clarification. Those who harbour fear in their minds try to clarify things," Jahan said on Wednesday.
"I am not involved in any corruption. If you can show any links to corruption, then what you all have to say will happen. Details of all my bank transactions are with me, including verified bank statements."
Nusrat left the media interaction, lasting a few minutes, in a huff with she was asked why she had chosen the company and not any bank to take the loan of over Rs 1.16 crore.
Panda, however, claimed that documents handed over to him by the allegedly duped investors of the realty project suggested that the Trinamul MP had taken a loan of close to Rs 1.98 crore from the company and the amount she was quoting was wrong.
"Why didn't she approach any bank for the loan? The money she used had been collected by the company from the investors of the proposed housing project. This is a fit case of laundering of money," Panda said.
Police had conducted a probe into the complaint of the investors and a report was submitted to the Alipore court in January. "The report suggested that the complainants have a case against the company's seven directors, including Nusrat Jahan," one of the complainants said.
"Rakesh Singh, one of the directors, was even arrested following the court's order. He is now out on bail."
Jahan said on Wednesday that the matter was pending in the court and law should be allowed to take its own course.
"It's not the work of any civilised resident to interfere with the proceedings of the court. Let's not do that," she said.
