Kunal Ghosh (''Kunal Kumar Ghosh'' engali: কুণাল কুমার ঘোষ born 20 June 1968) is an Indian journalist and politician. He is a member of the

All India Trinamool Congress The All India Trinamool Congress (English: All India Grassroots Congress; AITC), colloquially the Trinamool Congress ( TMC) is an Indian political party which is predominantly active in West Bengal. The party is led by Mamata Banerjee, the cur ...

(TMC) and a former member of the

Parliament of India The Parliament of India (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Republic of India. It is a bicameralism, bicameral legislature composed of the president of India and two houses: the R ...

, representing

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...

in the

Rajya Sabha The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...

Journalism and political career

Ghosh worked for Channel 10, as well as several newspapers. Ghosh holds the position of "message editor" of ''Prabaha'', the first private news magazine in Bengal. His first byline story was in ''Patrika'' of the

Anandabazar '' Anandabazar Patrika'' (Bengali: আনন্দবাজার পত্রিকা, ) is an Indian Bengali-language daily newspaper owned by the ABP Group. According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, it has a circulation of 1 million co ...

newspaper group. He then worked on multiple papers, including Aajkaal's ''Khela Patrika''. His work at channel 10 included the show "Ek Phone e Ek Lakh". A

first information report __NOTOC__ A first information report (FIR) is a document prepared by police organisations in Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asian countries including Myanmar, India, Bangladesh and Pakistan when they receive information about the commissio ...

was filed against Ghosh at the

Bhowanipore Bhowanipore (also Bhowanipur; bn, ভবানীপুর) is a neighbourhood of South Kolkata in Kolkata district of West Bengal, India. History In 1717, the East India Company obtained the right to rent from 38 villages surrounding their s ...

police station by employees of the closed Bengali daily newspaper ''Sakalbela'' for non-payment of salaries, and another at the Park Street police station by employees of Channel 10 for a similar reason. He was later interrogated by the police on these charges. In 2013, Ghosh was accused in the Saradha chit fund scam. He was arrested by the Mamata Banerjee-constituted special investigation team (SIT) on 24 November 2013. Less than two months later, the TMC suspended him for six years for publicly criticising the party. Following this action, Ghosh repeatedly dragged the TMC chief's name into the

Saradha Group financial scandal The Saradha Group financial scandal was a major financial scam and alleged political scandal caused by the collapse of a Ponzi scheme run by Saradha Group, a consortium of over 200 private companies that was believed to be running collective i ...

, one of the biggest political scandals in West Bengal. He had urged the

Central Bureau of Investigation The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is the premier investigating agency of India. It operates under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions. Originally set up to investigate bribery and governmen ...

(CBI) to interrogate Banerjee in connection with the scam and called her the ‘biggest beneficiary’ of the Saradha group's media operations. Ghosh has reportedly returned 1300 crores inr that he earned from Saradha Group as salary and for advertisements paid to him by Saradha Group while he worked for the media company.

Other positions held in Parliament

* July 2020: Appointed State spokesperson of Trinamool Congress. * June 2021: Appointed as the State General Secretary of Trinamool Congress.

Honors

In 2019, Ghosh inaugurated the "Mamata Setu"(Bridge) in

Cooch Behar Cooch Behar (), or Koch Bihar, is a city and a municipality in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarters of the Cooch Behar district. It is in the foothills of the Eastern Himalayas at . Cooch Behar is the only planned city in the ...

with the help of his MP-LAD fund.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ghosh, Kunal Living people 1968 births West Bengal politicians Trinamool Congress politicians from West Bengal Rajya Sabha members from West Bengal Indian prisoners and detainees Crime in West Bengal Corruption in West Bengal People charged with corruption