Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad convened a presser to put forth the government’s stand amidst the unprecedented standoff between the West Bengal Police and the central investigative agency CBI. The CBI has decided to approach the SC to resolve the imbroglio.
Stepping up the attack on the TMC chief, RS Prasad alleged that Mamata Banerjee did not sit in protest when TMC ministers Madan Mitra and Sudip Bandyopadhyay were incarcerated for their alleged roles in the Chit fund scams. Insinuating it as a politically motivated outrage, RS Prasad said, “Why is Mamata Banerjee outraging now while she had been evidently silent on the arrests of Madan Mitra, Sudeep Bandopadhya and Kunal Ghosh?”
Prasad also insinuated that the police commissioner must be party to the deepest secrets of the chit fund scams that West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, who remain impervious to the arrests of her ministers involved in the various chit fund scams is fighting tooth and nail to protect the commissioner from being interrogated by the CBI. Prasad contended that Kolkata police commissioner Rajeev Kumar was summoned thrice by the CBI for interrogation but he averted it every single time.
Prasad also questioned the Congress’ duplicitous stand over the Saradha Chit Fund issue. He discussed Congress’ statements and Tweets where the party leadership had condemned the scam and had held TMC responsible for shielding the perpetrators.
Taking a jibe at the opposition unity, Ravi Shankar Prasad also discussed that the SIT formation and SC order for investigation had all come before the BJP came to power. He claimed that it is farcical that the opposition is now targeting Modi-Shah for the consequences of investigations initiated when their own governments were in power. Prasad asserted that CBI’s proceedings were in accordance with the directions issued by the 2014 Supreme Court verdict. The SC had then asked the CBI to interrogate all the suspicious links involved in the chit fund scams and the money trail.