West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday attacked the Centre and alleged that the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) probe into the Saradha scam was politically motivated.

Addressing a worker’s meeting here in the city, Banerjee said the arrest of Srinjoy Bose – the party’s MP and editor of Bengali daily Sangbad Pratidin and the Trinamool Congress’ mouthpiece Jago Bangla – was a deliberate attempt to sully the party’s image.

Bose was arrested yesterday by the CBI in relation to the multi-crore Saradha ccam.

“I have no issues with cheats who duped people of their money being arrested. But all Tumpai (Srinjoy’s nickname) had done was enter into a business agreement with the Saradha Group,” she maintained.

Taking the reference of other Bengali dailies – like Anandabazaar, Bartamaan and Aajkaal – and their editors, the Trinamool supremo said these companies too had carried advertisements from various deposit-taking firms in their publications.

“So should these newspaper editors not be arrested also? Why only Tumpai,” she questioned.

Banerjee's ire was directed particularly towards the ABP Group – that runs the Anandabazaar Patrika and The Telegraph - and its editor, Aveek Sarkar.

“ABP organised a programme sponsored by i-Core group (another money collection agency) abroad. If Tumpai can be arrested for entering business deals with a chit-fund, shouldn’t Aveek Sarkar be arrested too for accepting sponsorship or advertisements from chit-funds?” she said.

According to Banerjee, her government was the first to take action against these deposit-taking companies. The arrest of Sudipta Sen, Chairman of the now defunct Saradha Group, and Kunal Ghosh (now suspended Trinamool MP), who headed the Group’s media venture, is proof of such action.

Moreover, the West Bengal government had set up a judicial commission and had provided relief to approximately 5 lakh depositors duped by the Saradha Group.

“What had the UPA-II or CPI(M) done? The Saradha Group was created during their rein in 2006. Even the NDA did not take action during their time against the other deposit-taking companies operating in the country. Now they (BJP) are going after us with a political vendetta,” she added.

Credibility

Raising questions over the credibility of the CBI, the West Bengal Chief Minister said the organisation needs to be dissolved and revamped in order to restore people's faith in the institution.

“We need to have a new CBI so that people’s faith is restored in the agency. But that does not mean it will be filled with political nominees or people close to the saffron party,” she added.

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