The CBI’s interrogation and subsequent arrest of senior Trinamool Congress leader Sudip Bandopadhyay on Tuesday for his alleged role in the Rose Valley scam prompted sharp reaction from party chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who accused the Centre of using the probe agency for vendetta politics.

Bandopadhyay, who is the TMC’s leader in the Lok Sabha, is the second party MP after Tapas Pal to be arrested in connection with the chit fund scam. Bandopadhyay was interrogated for more than four hours at the CBI office and was arrested after failing to provide satisfactory answers, sources said.

The Bengal-based Rose Valley is one of the many money collection companies that had came up over the last few years. While Rose Valley’s Chairman Gautam Kundu was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in March 2015, the money collection schemes that the group ran through various arms is said to have allegedly mobilised close to ₹17,000 crore.

Trouble in city



Shortly after Bandopadhyay’s arrest, clashes erupted between suspected activists of the TMC and the BJP.

Activists of the TMC’s student wing pelted stones at the BJP’s State headquarters in the heart of the city. At least 11 BJP workers are said to have been injured in the incident.

“We have requested the Centre to provide us protection. Nearly 200-300 people are stuck in our party office. We cannot take the injured to the hospital too. The police is not helping us. If this situation persists, we need to seek help of Central forces,” BJP’s West Bengal President Dilip Ghosh said. He, however, denied reports of Central forces being deployed at the party’s State headquarters.

Political vendetta



Meanwhile, Mamata Banerjee announced nationwide protests against the Modi government’s “vindictive attitude”. “We strongly condemn the politically vindictive attitude of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah. The arrest of Sudip da is all because of our fight against demonetisation,” she told reporters. “Arrest Modi and Amit Shah too,” she added.

Banerjee said the party’s protests against the Centre will begin with a sit-in demonstration in front of Kolkata office of the Reserve Bank of India on January 9. This will be followed by ‘dharnas’ in 10 different States including Delhi, Assam, Odisha and Tripura on January 10 and 11.

“I also run a government and I also have the power to arrest certain people who are thieves, hooligans and extortionists. This arrest has been made under pressure from the PMO,” Banerjee pointed out.