The Central Bureau of Investigation has summoned two Trinamool Congress MPs in connection with the Rose Valley chit fund scam, PTI reported on Tuesday. Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Tapas Paul have been asked to appear before the agency on Friday. The scam is being probed by the CBI as part of its larger investigation into chit fund scandals.
Bandyopadhyay had earlier asked to be exempted from appearing before the CBI because of his Parliamentary duties. On Tuesday, he said that he would go because he wanted to know “the exact charges that they [CBI] have levelled against me”. “I feel that it is better to sit face-to-face rather than talking over [the] phone.”
Following speculation that the CBI would question its party leaders, the TMC accused the Narendra Modi-led government of “pursuing [a] political vendetta”. Party spokesperson Partha Chatterjee had said the Centre was “using [the] CBI and other central agencies to scare us”. The TMC said its opposition to demonetisation was the reason for the investigation. “You [Modi] feel [that] you and your party are saints and all of us [are] thieves. But the fact is [that] you are the biggest thief.”
The CBI had accused Rose Valley chairman Gautam Kundu and three others of defrauding investors from across the country of over Rs 17,000 crore. In its chargesheet in the scam, the CBI had said that it was still investigating the role of “influential people”. The agency was also examining money trails, the role of regulatory authorities and the larger conspiracy to cheat the public of their money, the charge sheet had said.
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