Tapas admits to Rose Valley ties, says he will cooperate with CBI

KOLKATA: In the continuing trend of Trinamool confessions, actor-MP Tapas Pal on Friday admitted to taking money from Rose Valley Group — a Ponzi firm now under CBI scanner — claiming he was not aware of the firm’s money-collecting operations.
And like Mukul Roy, who shocked Trinamool by admitting to meeting Saradha boss Sudipta Sen, Pal said he would “cooperate fully with CBI”. In his desperate bid to wriggle out of the mess he has landed in, Pal has only tiptoed into a political minefield that threatens to fracture the ruling Trinamool.
Pal’s apartments were among those raided by CBI two days ago in a countrywide blitz against Rose Valley Group. Pal had dismissed the raids as “not a major issue”. On Friday, however, he was keen to volunteer information. He said he was on Rose Valley payrolls as director of ‘Brand Value Communication’ — the group’s films division. “I worked there for six months and took a salary of Rs 1 lakh per month. They used pay me Rs 80,000, deducting Rs 20,000 as income tax. I worked for six months and they paid salary for four months. When I understood that they were also into money collecting system, I left the organization,” Pal said.
Sensing trouble, Pal said he would prefer to go back to films and wants people to remember him as the “simpleton Kedar” in his first blockbuster ‘Dadar Kirti’.
Echoing Mukul, he said: “Being a responsible citizen, I will cooperate with the investigators and go to them whenever they call me. I come from a middle-class family and my father was a doctor who used to go to patients’ houses on cycle. I am ready to spell out any details. I have nothing to hide.”
Quick to take the cue, Mukul told reporters in Nizam Palace: “Yes. He has said the right thing. As far as I know there has been no discussion in the party over its stand on CBI. I think every law abiding citizen should cooperate with CBI. The party can have its opinion on the direction of the probe or even on any judgment, but how can it be on whether or not to cooperate in the probe? I stand by my statements and will continue to cooperate with CBI.”
This is the second time Pal earned the tag of rebel within Trinamool. The first was when he shared dais with Kunal Ghosh. He later apologized to Mamata.