Senior Congress leader Narasingha Mishra has welcomed the Supreme Court’s order for a CBI probe into the chit fund scam, saying the apex court’s verdict has proved beyond doubt that the State Government was trying to protect the offenders who have duped lakhs of depositors of their hard-earned money by spending lakhs of rupees from tax payers’ money towards fees and allowances to senior lawyers to stave off a CBI inquiry.
“Often the names of several politicians have come up for their involvement in the scam; even the name of the Chief Minister had come up; so a probe by the CBI will make things clear,” Mishra said.State Congress president Jayadev Jena said many ruling BJD leaders and officials who have provided patronage to the operators of chit fund firms would be prosecuted once the CBI begins its probe.“The Congress starting from block levels to State level had staged many demonstrations to press for a CBI probe into the chit fund scam. But the State Government, instead of ensuring an impartial probe, was avoiding the issue since many ruling party leaders and Government officials are involved in the scam,” said Jena.
Senior BJP leader Suresh Pujari also hailed the CBI probe, saying the State Government should have handed over the probe to the CBI on its own instead of arguing that the State’s Crime Branch was good enough to handle the task.
Senior BJP leader Jual Oram, who said his party had been demanding a CBI probe into the scam since long, stated, “The apex court has realised the need for such a probe. We hope the CBI will identify the politicians and officials who provided patronage to the operators of ponzi schemes and prosecute them.”
Samajwadi Party State president Rabi Behera too hailed the CBI probe, saying it is a landmark judgement of the court which has wider political and economic ramifications.However, senior BJD leader and Rajya Sabha member Kalpataru Das denied the allegations that leaders of the ruling BJD were involved in the scam. The State Government has passed new laws to protect the interest of depositors and has confiscated the properties of ponzi companies, he said.