'Premature' plea on CBI

OUR LEGAL REPORTER

Calcutta, May 2: The Bengal government today told Calcutta High Court in an affidavit that a CBI probe into the Saradha default case may be a "premature step" in view of the alacrity of the administration in responding to the crisis. In a 20-page affidavit, which the government lawyers scrambled to get affirmed before the court hours ended, the legal team of Mamata Banerjee took care to explain that the government had "swung into action" the moment it got to know how the Saradha Group cheated people by mobilising deposits illegally. The affidavit, filed on behalf of home department joint secretary Chandan Chayan Guha, will be submitted before the division bench of Chief Justice A.K. Mishra and Justice Jaymalya Bagchi tomorrow, when the case will come up for hearing. On April 25, in response to two separate public interest litigations, the bench had asked the state government to file the affidavit as the administration was opposed to a CBI probe into the scam. "In our affidavit, we haven't clearly mentioned that we don't want a CBI probe. But we have stated in no uncertain terms that the state investigating agencies are doing their job properly. That's why a CBI probe at this stage will be premature," said a law department official. As several prominent Trinamul leaders were perceived to have overt and covert connections with the Saradha Group, which owned several media outfits that allegedly acted as the ruling party's mouthpieces, all the Opposition parties have also demanded a CBI probe. The ruling establishment, however, has been opposing a CBI probe, which sources said was an attempt to "save Trinamul further embarrassment". At a rally in Shyambazar today, Mamata stressed that her government had done "enough" by arresting Saradha owner Sudipta Sen, passing a bill to crack down on sham companies, setting up a commission and creating a Rs 500-crore relief fund for depositors. The government affidavit, law department officials said, highlighted these points in an attempt to convince the court that a CBI probe was not needed. The government lawyers have been opposing a probe by the central agency ever since the bench observed during the last hearing that it was "contemplating a CBI probe as the case has ramifications beyond the state". Till now, investigations have revealed that the Saradha Group had carried out deposit-mobilising activities in Bengal, Jharkhand, Tripura, Odisha and several northeastern states, including Assam. The Assam government has given signals that it is in favour of a CBI probe after some cheated depositors moved the state's high court seeking such an investigation. A decision on the plea is pending but an order in favour of a CBI probe in Assam will also cover Bengal. "The government here (Bengal) is only trying to delay the CBI probe, but it cannot," said Subrata Mukhopadhyay, the advocate appearing for Basabi Roy Chowdhury, one of the petitioners. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1130503/jsp/bengal/story_16853286.jsp#.UYPL8aKBlA0