BJP files complaint with ED against company linked to Nusrat Jahan for duping 415 individuals
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Kolkata: BJP leader Shankudeb Panda filed a complaint with the Enforcement Directorate (ED) alleging that a company in which actress-turned-politician and Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha member Nusrat Jahan was a director, duped more than 400 people on the pretext of selling them apartments.
The corporate entity named Seven Sense International Private Limited, a real estate company, is accused of duping 415 people, who were mainly senior citizens, of Rs 5.5 lakh.
Even after the expiry of the specified time, none of them were provided with flats and the amount collected by them was utilised by the directors of the same entity, including Jahan, to purchase their own flats, the complaint filed by Panda stated, which contains the details of Rs 23 crore.
According to the BJP leader, Jahan was the director of Seven Sense International, a real estate company, which took money from 429 employees of the Indian Overseas Bank in lieu of giving them apartments on the outskirts of Kolkata.
Meanwhile, confusion has surfaced over Jahan’s claims of taking a loan from that company to purchase her flat which she repaid with interest before resigning from the entity in March 2017.
While the existing director of the corporate Rakesh Singh denied the company giving any such loan to her, questions are being raised on why she took the loan from a company instead of taking an institutional loan from a bank.
Shankudeb Panda told India Today that the people who were duped had already filed a case on the matter and a court in Alipore had summoned Jahan but she did not appear.
He was accompanied to the ED office by the alleged victims of the fraud. He also alleged that Jahan used the money for her production house.
As per the summons issued by the Alipore court, Nusrat Jahan is among eight people who are accused in a case filed under Sections 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 34 (acts by several people with common intention).
The other accused in the case are Rakesh Singh, Raju Chakraborty, Ruplekha Mitra, Bishnu Das, Mahua Singh, Binayak Sen and Koushik Das.
Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly Suvendu Adhikari, on Friday evening, met a section of the duped individuals and assured them of all sorts of legal support in the matter.
Jahan however, denied the allegations against her. She said that she had nothing to do with the company anymore as she had resigned in 2017.
"I had taken a loan from this company. The loan amount was ₹ 1,16,30,285 and on May 6, 2017, with I repaid the loan with interest - an amount of ₹ 1,40,71,995. I have all the bank details for this. I have bank statements. Everything is there with me," the actor told reporters at a press conference at the Kolkata Press Club on Wednesday, as quoted by NDTV.
"The allegation is that I have bought an apartment with this money. I am here in front of you because there is this misconception. The company gave me a loan and I returned the loan to the company with interest. That is clear in my verified bank statement which is there in the court,” added Nusrat Jahan.
She also asked people not to politicise the issue and said that she has presented all the necessary documents to the court.
"It's not the work of any civilised resident to interfere with the proceedings of the court. Let's not do that," Jahan said, reported NDTV.
"Before putting out stories you should hear the other side of the story. Please do not make this matter political because it is not,” the Trinamool MP added.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has also backed her MP.
Jahan was in the midst of controversy after the infamous Park Street gang rape of an Anglo-Indian woman in February 2012. There were allegations against Jahan of giving shelter to the prime accused in the case, Kader Khan.
The victim, who died in March 2015, became a lead face of the anti-rape campaign before her death. Khan is still absconding.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, she was fielded from the Basirhat Lok Sabha constituency in North 24 Parganas district, which she successfully contested.
With inputs from agencies
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