Mamta Banerjee is presently holding a sit-in dharna protesting against the CBI’s attempt at questioning the Kolkata Police Chief in connection with the chit fund scam. Mamta Banerjee has questioned the de-legitimization of the CBI ahead of the upcoming elections.
The New Leam Staff
The political situation in Kolkata has become intense since Sunday as the Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamta Banerjee has resorted to peaceful protest. Today her fast has entered second day of struggle as she fights against autocratic behaviour of the Modi government.
The Central government on Sunday issued an order for arresting the Police Commissioner of Kolkata in relation to The Sharada Scam and Rose Valley Ponzi Scam. CBI officials visited Police commissioner Rajeev Kumar’s house for interrogation but rather the officials were detained at the local police station. This situation let to a political turmoil between the Mamta Banerjee government in Bengal and the Modi government at the centre. Ms. Banerjee accused the current National Security Officer Mr. Ajit Doval in the Modi government of being a puppet to the Shah-Modi alliance.
Mamta Banerjee’s angst grew strong because of the illicit accusation and warrant of arrest made by the CBI without following any due process. Banerjee is of the opinion that the order of arrest passed by the government is nothing but a dictatorial move of the BJP government and under such circumstance it is the prerogative of the Chief Minister to protect her officer. With regards to the loyalty and the involvement of Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar in the scam the chief minister opined that the police commissioner has no role in the scams and is absolutely not guilty for the same.
The matter of detention of the CBI officials was soon reported to the Home Ministry, in return of which the Home Minister, Raj Nath Singh deployed central security forces around the official building and the residence of the CBI officers. He further questioned the political morality of the chief minister by remarking that the democracy in the state is under threat as the Chief Minister’s attention is not towards maintain law and order in the state but rather fostering the Mahaghathbandan, which the CM has announced to form in her recent political rally.
The Sharada Scam and Rose Valley Ponzi Scam came in light in 2013 it affected states like Kolkata, Assam, Orissa and Tripura. The Shardha scam was a fraud of approximately Rs. 4000 crore. The scheme attracted investors to invest a particular sum of money in the scheme and in return of which their investment will get doubled or tripled as promised under the investment proposal. Many people got attracted to the fake offer and made substantial investments in the scheme without being aware that they are being fooled.
Rose valley Ponzi scam was a large scam involving a fraud of Rs. 15000 almost, rose valley scam attracted large scale investors from India and abroad and likewise did the scheme and the directors left no stone unturned to make the scheme look as authentic as possible but later on the fraud was unmasked and brought to light. In 2013 it was the Kolkata police who was investigating the matter until before the Supreme Court of India ordered to transfer the case to CBI pertaining to serious allegations of money laundering and international funding.
The opposition party in Kolkata at that time accused the Trinamool Congress of being involved in the scam by giving them support for smooth functioning and in return receiving political funding from them.
CBI accused Rajeev Kumar the IPS officer who headed the SIT in the scam case of mishandling the documents in relation to the case.
Pertaining to this allegation 40-member team of CBI officials visited Kumar’s house in Kolkata for further inquiry but they were bashed down by the state police instead. CBI argued that they had summoned Kumar before making their visit but since Kumar did not reply to any of their plea they decided to visit his house.
As soon as the CBI reached Kumar’s home the CM herself also visited his place and fought for Kumar. Banerjee accused the BJP government for ushering a move like this only to malign her image as she had announced to fight back against her strongly at her recently concluded United India Rally. Ravi Shankar Prasad, Union Law Minister in the BJP government has refuted Mamta Banerji’s Claim and instead revealed that it was the congress government who had filed the petition in the Supreme Court for investigation in the Chit Fund Scam and not the BJP government.
Many other parties like AAP, RJD, Congress, Samajwadi Party, DMK, TDP and former ministers like Dev Gowda, Yashwant Sinha, Lalu Prasad Yadav, Omar Abdullah have united with the Chief Minister of Bengal and shown solidarity as well as support to her movement.
As of now the Kolkata government has moved to the High Court with regards to the case. The High Court has now shifted the hearing on this case for Tuesday and till then the Dharna in Central Kolkata would continue.
