Trinamool demands CBI probe into Tripura NBFCs, to launch stir

The opposition Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Wednesday reiterated its demand for a probe by the CBI and ED into the activities of all illegal NBFCs and chit fund organisations in Tripura and warned of a stir on the issue.

The state TMC announced an agitation from January 19 to force the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) to probe the illegal activities of Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) and chit fund organisations.

The party claims that Chief Minister Manik Sarkar as well as ministers and leaders of the ruling Left Front in Tripura are involved in the activities of these organisations.

"Sarkar promoted the business of Rose Valley; his party colleagues, including two ministers, are either involved or promoted the business of NBFCs and chit fund organisations," TMC leader Sudip Roy Barman told reporters here.

He said: "The CBI and the ED are taking action against TMC parliamentarians and leaders in West Bengal but both the agencies are not acting in Tripura."

Alleging a tacit understanding between the CPI-M and the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government, Barman said they will soon meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ask for CBI and ED probes into NBFCs and chit fund bodies' activities.

Denying the TMC charges, CPI-M state Secretary Bijan Dhar said Tripura's Left Front government was the first in India to enact laws to curb unlawful activities of chit fund companies and NBFCs and repeatedly asked the CBI to investigate their activities.

"The TMC leaders have no issue and they are playing an old record just to misguide the people," Dhar told reporters.

The Communist Party of India-Marxist is a dominant partner in the Left Front that comprises four Left parties.

The Tripura High Court last year asked the state government to set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe illegal NBFCs and chit fund organisations.

Meanwhile, SIT head and Tripura's Inspector General of Police (Law and Order) K.V. Sreejesh told the media on Wednesday that the SIT is now probing 78 cases involving 48 NBFCs and chit fund organisations and had arrested 112 persons.

"We have seized bank accounts and attached properties of most of these organisations. We will soon complete our probe," the IPS officer added.

In 2013, the Tripura government referred 37 cases relating to chit fund companies and NBFCs to the CBI. The central probe agency, however, took up only five cases.

--IANS

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