Mamata Banerjee Left Red-Faced After CBI Books Businessmen Close To Her In Rs 515 Crore Bank Fraud

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee faces a major embarrassment as two businessmen close to her have been named in a Rs 515 crore fraud.

Shibaji Panja and Kaustav Roy, owners of RP Infosystems, have allegedly cheated a consortium of public sector banks led by Canara Bank by fabricating documents, inflating stock statements and syphoning off funds. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is now probing the case and has raided offices of the company. Panja and Roy were close to the CPI(M) during Left rule in the state and came into the limelight by selling assembled desktops and laptops at very low prices under the ‘Chirag’ brand name in 2005. They later got close to Banerjee, who reportedly took Panja along with her during her foreign visits.

Panja left Mamata red-faced when Delhi Police arrested him in February 2015 (on charges of duping a Delhi-based company of Rs 18 crore) immediately after he landed in Kolkata from Dhaka, where he had gone as part of her delegation.

In June 2015, the CBI had booked him for allegedly duping IDBI Bank of Rs 180 crore.