Trinamool hindering Saradha probe: Congress

The Congress Sunday charged West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress of destroying evidence to hinder the CBI probe into the Saradha scam, and urged the prime minister to fulfill his commitment of unearthing those behind the scam.

Commenting on allegations by suspended Trinamool parliamentarian Kunal Ghosh in his letter to the prime minister that his party was hindering the probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), state Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said police were not assisting the central agency at the behest of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

"The state government has used police to destroy incriminating documents seized during the course of investigation. As a result, a number of Trinamool stalwarts, who were supposed to be arrested have now been absolved," Chowdhury told media persons.

Ghosh is now behind bars for his alleged complicity in the scam.

Chowdhury said it was "unprecedented and unfortunate" that the CBI has to move court to get the relevant documents and evidence seized by police during its investigation.

"I hope the NDA government will leave no stone unturned to unmask those engaged in pulling the strings from behind in the Saradha scam because Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised to the people of Bengal that he will bring to book all those involved in the scam," Chowdhury said.

"The CBI will be able to unearth the truth only if it gets assistance. But police, at the behest of the chief minister, are not doing so. Banerjee who has burnt the midnight oil to prevent a CBI probe knows that if the probe goes on, a lot of skeletons will tumble out of the Trinamool's cupboard," said the Lok Sabha member from Baharampur.

He also said the Trinamool has adopted a "blow hot blow cold" approach to keep the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in good humour.

"The Trinamool is cold inside parliament and hot outside. It has adopted this hot and cold attitude to keep the BJP in good humour, otherwise the CBI will pounce on it," he said.