BANGLADESH NEWS
Three days after a departmental probe body has given Suranjit Sengupta a clean chit in the railwaygate scam, he said on Wednesday he is coming back to politics.
"I will return to politics, will take the responsibility of serving the people," the embattled minister disclosed it to the media during a press briefing at his Zigatola residence.
The former railway minister's announcement came just a month after his statement that he would stay away from politics until he came 'clear' through investigation terming it a "break" in his political career.
On query whether he will take charge of the Railway Ministry if he is requested for, he said he had never failed to carry out his responsibility and will not.
During the Wednesday's press briefing, Suranjit came down heavily on the media for not giving him opportunity to prove his innocence based on 'benefit of doubt'.
Suranjit claimed that he deserves the opportunity of 'benefit of doubt' as he has a 55 years clean political career and people considered him as an honest politician.
The seven-time parliamentarian from Sunamganj in the northeast region also claimed that during his long political career, he fought against militancy and terrorism taking risk of his life.
On the cash haul, he said, "Now it is clear, the money belongs to whom and who has deposited the money to bank."
Suranjit stepped down from his position on April 16 nearly five months into his taking over as railway minister following the recovery of Tk 70 lakh from the microbus of his assistant personal secretary.
On April 9 night, Omar Faruq Talukder's microbus driver Ali Azam drove the vehicle carrying Faruq, and two railway officials Yusuf Ali Mridha and Enamul Huq to the Border Guard Bangladesh headquarters in the capital. The driver shouted at the guards that there was illegal money in the microbus.
BGB personnel searched the vehicle and found Tk 70 lakh, reportedly collected from new recruits in railway's east zone, stashed in the vehicle. They detained the four but released them the next day after verifying their identity.
Faruq was sacked, and railway general manager (east zone) Mridha and its divisional security commandant Enamul Huq were suspended following the incident.
Taking responsibility for the incident, Suranjit stepped down as railway minister on April 16. But the government retained him as a minister without portfolio.
During his nearly 30 minutes briefing starting from 10:20am, Suranjit also ridiculed the media for involving his son Soumen Sengupta with the cash haul.
He said after the submission of departmental probe report, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) now became clear about the source of Tk 5 crore with which Soumen has obtained an interconnection exchange licence from Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission.
The minister without portfolio said, "My son like other participants applied for the BTRC licence and got it."
The veteran Awami League leader also urged the media to act in responsibly and impartially.
He also claimed that he had earlier decided to stay away from politics for the sake of a fair investigation and to set an example in the history of the country.
On query if the departmental body has the jurisdiction to probe his involvement with the Tk 70 lakh scam, he said the committed was formed to investigate the overall scam and it did not find his involvement with the scandal.
The two-member departmental probe body which did not find Suranjit's link with the railwaygate scam was actually formed to investigate the alleged involvement of two high officials of the railway ministry.
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