On the backfoot following the arrest of minister Madan Mitra in Saradha chit fund scam, senior Trinamool Congress leader and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Partha Chatterjee on Friday questioned why the CBI is not arresting CPI(M) leaders during whose rule such companies mushroomed in the state. Those involved in mushrooming of chit fund business in Bengal were now taking out rallies and shedding crocodile tears, Chatterjee said without naming the CPI(M).
After meeting Governor K N Tripathi, he said, "The Supreme Court has asked the CBI to investigate the scam. But in the name of investigation, the CBI is arresting only TMC leaders. If they feel that TMC leaders are culprits let them chargesheet them. But the CBI is being used to crush our prestige."
"We have said that money should be returned to all people who have lost their deposits since 1980's in chit funds. Why the people under whose rule chit fund business started in state were not arrested?" Chatterjee who was accompanied by other state ministers, said they talked to the governor on several issues.
"We talked about the way our minister Madan Mitra has been arrested by CBI. The governor said neither he nor the Raj Bhawan knew about the arrest. Just like our chief minister and Assembly speaker were kept in dark about the arrest," he said.
Stating that the TMC regime has arrested Saradha Group Chairman Sudipto Sen and returned money to five lakhs duped investors, Chatterjee said they urged the governor to see that the bill passed by the state Assembly is cleared by the Centre as early as possible. Sometime after the Saradha Group chit fund scam came to light, West Bengal Assembly in April 2013 passed a bill formulated by the Trinamool Congress government for protection of investors in chit fund companies.
But the Centre returned the bill to the state government in September seeking a number of clarifications. The bill was withdrawn and the Assembly cleared another bill on the issue on December 12. The West Bengal Protection of Interest of Depositors in Financial Establishments Bill, 2013, has been sent for presidential assent but it was yet to get it.
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