Kolkata: The Leader of the Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari, on Monday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take action against West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in connection with the multi-crore Saradha Chit Fund scam. Adhikari also questioned the CBI's alleged reluctance to arrest Mamata Banerjee, whom he claimed "misused her position" to become the "biggest beneficiary" of the scam and doubted whether the agency was hesitant due to Banerjee's position.
Raising the issue ahead of the panchayat polls, Adhikari said that the people of West Bengal were fed up with the slow-paced investigation. "The state is in the grapple of corruption and wants the perpetrators to face action for their misdeeds," he alleged. In his three-page letter to Modi, Adhikari wrote that CBI failed to nab the person, who misused her position and became the biggest beneficiary of the scam.
He questioned whether the agency was hesitant because the person is none other than West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. "Or has the height of her chair made them reluctant to act against her? But, wasn't it the primary reason for handing over the investigation to the CBI? So that the position of the high and mighty doesn't deter them from acting against them and bringing them to justice," he wrote.
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Adhikari claimed Banerjee's association with Sharadha Chit Fund dated back to the time when she was the Union Railway Minister in the UPA-II government. He wrote that CBI had revealed links between the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC) and the Saradha Group. Both had signed a contract in connection with a tourism project in 2010 following which the group organised package tours for IRCTC and Saradha scam main accused Sudipta Sen allegedly provided financial assistance to the Trinamool Congress before the party came to power in 2011. Adhikari also alleged that in 2014 Sen reportedly purchased Banerjee's paintings for Rs 1.8 crore that was also corroborated in TMC's income statement for 2011-12 stating an income of Rs 3.939 crore from the sale of paintings.
The leader of the Opposition further alleged this was a clear case of money laundering. "Banerjee's link with Saradha Chit Fund is well established. Then why is the CBI going slow regarding Mamata Banerjee and making no progress as such? The lack of action is resulting in the erosion of faith of the people of West Bengal in the premier investigating agency," his letter read. In 2014, the Supreme Court transferred all cases registered in different police stations in Bengal against the Saradha Group of Companies to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
