West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday blamed the Narendra Modi government’s “vendetta politics” for the death of former Trinamool Congress MP Tapas Pal, Hindustan Times reported.
Pal, a former Bengali film superstar, died of cardiac arrest in Mumbai on Tuesday. He spent 13 months in jail in connection with the Rose Valley chit fund scam, before being granted bail in February 2018. He was accused of getting undue financial benefits from the chit fund scheme that duped thousands of investors. He was a former director of the Rose Valley company. Several Trinamool Congress leaders, including ministers and MPs, have been investigated or jailed for their alleged involvement with the Saradha and Rose Valley chit fund scams.
The Trinamool Congress president blamed the Centre for “mentally torturing” Pal. “Tapas Pal’s death has proved how agencies can destroy a person mentally,” Banerjee added. “He was devastated. He was tortured.”
“Central government’s pressure has claimed so many lives,” Banerjee said at an event organised in Kolkata to pay tribute to Pal. Apart from Pal, former MP Sultan Ahmed and party leader Prasun Banerjee’s wife also died because of the central government’s actions, Banerjee claimed.
“People are being jailed but central agencies have not been able to prove their involvement or conclude what crime they committed,” she added.
Ahmed died in 2017. Banerjee had blamed the Centre for his death as well back then.
Pal was twice elected to Parliament from Krishnanagar, and had represented Alipore in the state Assembly. He is survived by his wife and daughter.
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