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322819-matang07.02.15

New Delhi: A court here Saturday sent former Union minister Matang Sinh, who was arrested in connection with the Saradha scam, to CBI custody till February 11.

The development comes a day after the Enforcement Directorate froze three prime properties worth over Rs 90 crore of Sinh in connection with its probe in the Saradha scam for alleged violation of money laundering law.

Sinh is the first former Union Minister to be arrested by the agency in connection with the said case by the Special Investigation Team of CBI in Kolkata.

He was charged with criminal conspiracy, cheating and misappropriation of funds related to Saradha Realty, one of the companies of the group which is being probed by the agency, CBI sources said.

Arrested on January 31, Sinh was subsequently admitted to a hospital. Following his failure to appear before the court owing to illness, he was on February 1 sent to judicial custody.

However, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), during the day, obtained a stay on the order of his judicial remand from a higher court and presented him before the court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (in-charge) Manikuntala Roy seeking his custody for seven days.

Sinh’s counsel pressed for his bail on health grounds contending he was a a liver transplant patient and has developed several complications following his surgery.

The CBI opposed his bail claiming he was a beneficiary of the Saradha Group of companies and his custodial interrogation was imperative.

After hearing both the parties, the court remanded Sinh to CBI custody till February 11.

Saradha Group chief and purported scam kingpin Sudipta Sen, now behind bars, in a letter to the CBI, had accused the former minister of state for parliamentary affairs in the PV Narasimha Rao-led Congress government (1991-96), of cheating him of Rs 28 crore.

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