Mamata government shielding Saradha perpetrators: Left Front

Accusing West Bengal government of "shielding the perpetrators" of Saradha chit fund scam, the Left Front Sunday called for statewide protest movement to unmask the ruling Trinamool Congress.

"Facts reveal that the incumbent (state) government and the ruling party's top leadership is fully involved in the financial scam. The latest revelation by a Trinamool MP in this regard has only added new dimensions," the Front said in a press statement.

The statement comes hours after suspended Trinamool Rajya Sabha member Kunal Ghosh was remanded to five days' police custody by a court in connection with the Saradha scam - the biggest financial scandal to hit the state.

Ghosh who headed Saradha's media arm, was arrested Saturday, a day after he dragged Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's name in the scandal saying the media houses were set up with "the motto to promote Banerjee as the country's next prime minister".

"Defying the our repeated requests for a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation, the current government has been indulged in shielding the perpetrators which has ruined lakhs of people from Bengal and other states," the Front said.

Asserting that the scandal has adversely affected the political and social landscape in the state, it called for a statewide mass movement to unmask the "real face of the state government".