Raju Sahani, a Trinamool leader and chairman of Halisahar Municipality of North 24 Parganas district in West Bengal, was remanded to a five-day Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) custody by a special court on Saturday.
Sahani was arrested by the CBI on Friday in an investigation that concerns misappropriation of a chit fund (ponzi scheme). While probing, according to sources, the agency found cash worth around Rs 80 lakh, and an unlicensed pistol from Sahani’s premises. Sahani allegedly received benefits in the chit fund scheme. The leader is likely to be questioned about his involvement in the ponzi fund, and the source of cash in his possession.
In Halisahar, BJP supporters protested outside the municipality. BJP co-in charge for Bengal Amit Malviya took to Twitter to raise allegations against the Trinamool’s leaders, and ones holding lower posts.
On Friday, Trinamool MP Abhishek Banerjee was quizzed for around seven hours by Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Kolkata in a money laundering investigation, related to an alleged coal scam. Banerjee had claimed that as the BJP has failed to confront the Trinamool politically, it is putting agencies to work in the state.
Two of Trinamool’s veterans, Partha Chatterjee, now a suspended party leader, and a former minister in the state government, and Anubrata Mondal, party’s chief of Birbhum district, are both in judicial custody. Chatterjee, arrested by ED, is being probed in a case concerning irregularities in the appointments in state-supported schools. Mondal was arrested by the CBI and is being questioned in an alleged illegal cross-border cattle smuggling scam.
The active actions of the agencies in the state have been observed differently by the ruling Trinamool. The party chief, and senior leaders, have kept reiterating that the BJP at the Centre is ‘misusing’ the agencies.
On Friday, Banerjee, after being quizzed, had alleged that the two major investigations – coal pilferage, cross-border cattle smuggling – involved security of colliaries and borders by the CISF, and the BSF, respectively. He held the home ministry accountable for whatever was happening in these domains.