Rose Valley chit fund scam: Trinamool MP Bandyopadhyay arrested by CBI

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday arrested Sudip Bandyopadhyay, a Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP, after interrogating him for over three hours at its headquarters in the city.

The arrest followed inconsistencies in his statement in investigations into the Rs 15,000- crore Rose Valley chit fund scam.

Bandyopadhyay was summoned by the CBI twice in December but he had cited prior engagements.

The arrest is close on the heels of that of Tapas Pal, another TMC MP, who was held by the CBI in Delhi and transported to Bhubaneswar for further proceedings.

Prior to these arrests, the CBI had arrested Madan Mitra, West Bengal’s transport minister, and journalist-turned-politician Kunal Ghose for their alleged involvement in the Saradha scam. Ghose was suspended by the TMC and Mitra, who contested Assembly elections this year from jail, lost.

Violence broke out in Kolkata shortly after Bandyopadhyay’s arrest between TMC and Bharatiya Janata Party workers. 

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee described the recent arrests as political vendetta. “We strongly condemn the vindictive attitude of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah. For no reason these arrests have been made. This is not financial emergency, this is full-fledged emergency,” she tweeted.

Banerjee said Prime Minister Narendra Modi was trying to silence the Opposition over demonetisation. She questioned the BJP’s involvement in Ponzi schemes, referring to the association of the Sahara Group with BJP leaders.

The chief minister alleged the CBI might now target her nephew Abhishek Banerjee, the national president of the TMC’s youth wing, Sovon Chatterjee, Kolkata’s mayor, and Firhad Hakim, a minister. 

“CBI and Enforcement Directorate officials have told me they have received orders to pick up Abhishek, Sovon and others,” she said. “Even if they arrest all our MPs, MLAs, me and my family, we will not stop our opposition to notebandi,” she added.

West Bengal’s Education Minister Partha Chatterjee said the TMC would launch protests against the recent arrests across West Bengal. Protests have also been planned outside the Reserve Bank of India offices in Kolkata and Delhi on January 9-11.