Police personnel produce former West Bengal minister Indranil Sen before a city court, in Kolkata.
| Photo Credit: PTI
Kolkata
Former West Bengal minister Indranil Sen was sent to 13 days of police custody on Thursday (October 29). The Trinamool Congress-era minister was arrested on Wednesday (October 28, 2026) in relation to a Durga Puja ticket scam.
“We have got 13 days PC of ex-MIC Indranil Sen till 10th Nov,” a statement from Kunal Agarwal, Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime), said. He was produced at the Bankshall Court on Thursday (October 29, 2026) morning.
Police have said that they have found multiple transactions linked to Mr. Sen, which the former minister has not been able to explain. He will be in police custody for further questioning. He had been avoiding the police even after multiple summons.
“The exact amount of cheating and money trail is still being verified. No precise figure can be provided at present. The complaint made is of 34 crore,” police also said.
On Thursday (October 29, 2026), Bharatiya Janata Party workers staged a protest outside Mr. Sen’s house in the Singur area. They also dragged a man with a rope tied around his waist and put a picture of Mr. Sen on his face.
Both the Kolkata Police and the Enforcement Directorate are investigating the former minister for allegations of financial irregularities in the sale of Durga Puja tickets under the organisation MassArt. The organisation is headed by his wife and used to conduct exclusive Durga Puja previews in exchange for expensive tickets.
An FIR at the Bow Bazar Police Station has alleged Mr. Sen and the other members of MassArt had used the Durga Puja’s UNESCO intangible cultural heritage tag for personal gains.
After Mr. Sen’s arrest on Wednesday (October 28, 2026), Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari and minister Agnimitra Paul both raised allegations that if Mr. Sen has “stolen money, he shared the proceeds with the former CM Mamata Banerjee.”
“Indranil Sen’s arrest is natural, but will the arrests reach the top of these scams?” senior Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Sujan Chakraborty asked.
However, Mamata-Trinamool general secretary Abhishek Banerjee said that anyone who has not sold their spine is being put behind bars.
The former Tourism and Culture Minister was denied anticipatory bail by the Calcutta High Court, and Supreme Court judge Dipankar Dutta has recused himself from the bail hearing on Tuesday (October 27, 2026).
Mr. Sen was being questioned for over four hours in the Enforcement Directorate office at the CGO Complex in Salt Lake on Wednesday (October 28, 2026) when Kolkata Police Detective Department and Bidhannagar Police cordoned off the area. He was arrested at around 5.10 p.m., the moment he stepped out of the ED office.
After the regime change in West Bengal, several Mamata Banerjee-era ministers have been arrested. Mr. Sen was the fifth arrest; the first one was Sujit Bose, who was also arrested for a job recruitment scam. Later, ministers Udayan Guha, Ujjal Biswas, and Dilip Mondal were also arrested under allegations of financial irregularities.
Published – October 30, 2026 02:50 am IST
