The Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday arrested Trinamool Congress MP Tapas Paul in connection with the Rose Valley chit fund scam, ANI reported. The agency had summoned the politician to its North 24 Parganas office for questioning. The scam is being probed by the CBI as part of its larger investigation into chit fund scandals.

On Tuesday, the CBI had issued summons to Paul and Sudip Bandyopadhyay in connection with the case. Earlier this year, the agency 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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Reacting to the arrest, West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC head Mamata Banerjee claimed her party members were being detained because of their opposition to demonetisation, ANI reported. Accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party of being connected to another chit fund scam, Banerjee alleged that BJP leaders Babul Supriyo and Rupa Ganguly had also been associated with the Rose Valley company. “Political vendetta has reached a new low. I will not be surprised if they arrest all our MPs,” she said.

Earlier, party spokesperson Partha Chatterjee had said the Centre was “using [the] CBI and other central agencies to scare us”. The TMC claimed 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.”