TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee on Friday lashed out at the CBI claiming that it was acting at the behest of thieves. “Instead of taking action against those who duped investors, the CBI has been taking action against those who duped Saradha. This is not their jurisdiction,“ Ms Banerjee thundered while addressing a party workers’ rally in Kalyani.
The comments from Ms Banerjee came when the CBI was questioning her party’s Rajya Sabha MP Srinjoy Bose’s involvement in the multi-crore Saradha scam. However, little did she know that hours later Mr Bose would be arrested.
“What was the CBI doing when the chit fund companies started mushrooming during the Left Front regime? I have been observing lately that it has been taking actions against the ones who duped Saradha but not against those who duped the people. It seems as if the CBI is acting to protect the thieves. They are not working for those who have been deprived,” Ms Banerjee said.
Alleging that the CBI was going beyond its jurisdiction, Ms Banerjee said, “The CBI is busy finding who had attended some programmes and who had gone to inaugurate a Durga Puja. Does this fall under your jurisdiction? Instead of doing this, it should take action against the culprits and try to return the money to the investors.” She also mentioned the names of other chit fund groups and demanded same action against these companies.
Meanwhile, hours after the arrest of Mr Bose, Trinamul Congress all-India secretary general Partha Chatterjee alleged that BJP was utilising CBI to suit its political interest and described the arrest of Mr Bose as a “politically motivated” move. “The BJP is using the CBI to take political revenge. The Trinamul Cogress with the support of common people is ready to give a fitting reply to this politically motivated move. Tomorrow at Netaji Indoor Stadium, our party leadership from the party worker’s meeting would send its message to the people of Bengal,” Mr Chatterjee said in a press conference.
However, he refused to take any questions. Reacting to the developments, TMC MP and spokesman Derek O’Brien said, “CBI is a political tool which was used by the previous government to settle political scores. Now the BJP is doing an action replay.”