BJP: No politics, CBI following Supreme Court order

New Delhi: Amid Opposition attacks on the Narendra Modi government over the “misuse of CBI”, the ruling BJP on Monday denied political motives behind the Central probe agency’s action in West Bengal and claimed that the investigation into chit fund scams is being carried out under Supreme Court orders.

The party also took aim at chief minister Mamata Banerjee by questioning if her dharna to protest CBI’s proposed action against Kolkata police commissioner Rajeev Kumar is because he holds many “secrets” and needs to be saved.

The BJP denied political motives behind the case claiming that it was not the BJP but the Congress that had filed a petition in the Supreme Court to seek an investigation into the chit fund scams.

Union minister and senior BJP leader Prakash Javadekar rejected TMC’s claims that the BJP is using the CBI to serve its own political purpose and said the investigating agency is probing the chit fund cases as per the orders of the Supreme Court.

Union law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said, “The Special Investigation Team (SIT), under Kolkata police commissioner Rajeev Kumar to investigate ponzi scams, was formed on April 26, 2013, by the Mamata Banerjee government. It was the Congress that had moved the apex court which later allowed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe the cases.”

Mr Prasad rejected the Opposition charge that the CBI’s bid to question Mr Kumar amounts to an attack on the federal structure by the Modi government, saying it cannot be cited as a shield to save the corrupt and asserted that the agency is acting as per law.

Mr Prasad took a swipe at the unity among Opposition parties against the CBI action, describing it as an “alliance of the corrupt”. He said alliance’s “soldiers” from Bihar to Uttar Pradesh, including Congress president Rahul Gandhi, are facing probes in different cases of alleged graft.

The Union minister said Ms Banerjee has defied all norms to sit on a dharna in Kolkata, adding that the police commissioner’s decision to join her protest was unprecedented and was in violation of norms guiding police officers’ conduct.

He said Ms Banerjee kept quiet when many of her Trinamul Congress leaders, including MPs, were arrested but has started a dharna to support a police officer. 

“These suspicious circumstances clearly indicate that the police commissioner knows a lot and, therefore, needs to be saved by the chief minister,” he said.

Meanwhile, former IPS officer Bharati Ghosh, once considered close to Ms Banerjee but now facing criminal charges, joined the BJP in New Delhi.

“There is no democracy in West Bengal. ‘Crimocracy’ and ‘thugocracy’ have replaced it,” Ms Ghosh told reporters after joining the party in the presence of Mr Prasad, Kailash Vijayvargiya and Mukul Roy.

The ponzi scams under CBI lens involve lakhs of depositors in several eastern states including West Bengal, Odisha, Assam, Bihar and Jharkhand who were duped by the promoters of Saradha and Rose Valley groups of their hard earned money. The size of the Saradha swindle is pegged at roughly Rs 4,000 crore and that of Rose Valley a staggering Rs 15,000 crore.

Several TMC leaders, including parliamentarians like Kunal Ghosh, Srinjay Bose, Sudip Bandyopadhyay, Tapas Pal, besides state minister Madan Mitra, were arrested for their alleged links with the two chit fund companies.