Kripashankar Singh's arrest being delayed to save the big fish: Oppn

Kripashankar Singh was just the ammo the opposition was looking for. Taking a more aggressive stand against the state government, and in particular, the Congress, by the day, it has now alleged that the former Mumbai Regional Congress Committee chief, who is facing charges of amassing wealth disproportionate to his known sources of income, is being shielded to protect bigger fish.

Alleging that the state government has been delaying Singh’s arrest to save face, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray said at a press conference at his house at Dadar on Friday, “Kripashankar (Singh) is being protected, as many bigger players are involved in this game. If he is arrested, then the entire link of corrupt leaders will be exposed and, hence, there is a systematic effort to save him.”

Dubbing Singh as the “middleman” between leaders of Maharashtra and top leaders of Congress, like the Gandhi family and AICC president Sonia Gandhi’s political secretary Ahmed Patel, Thackeray said, “Leaders in our state want some middleman to get to the party’s top leaders. Kripashankar served this purpose. Otherwise, what standing does an outsider like Singh have in Maharashtra?”

He wanted the court to take action against the state if it continues to parry Singh’s arrest.

The Shiv Sena, too, joined in the government bashing. Party spokesperson and MP Sanjay Raut alleged that chief minister Prithviraj Chavan and Congress’ Maharashtra president Manikrao Thackeray are trying to protect Singh.

“The government is purposely delaying the arrest and is giving time for him to destroy evidence.”