In what could give Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress some succour, the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday rejected a public interest petition demanding CBI inquiry into the multi-crore Saradha chit fund scam.
A Division Bench of Justice AK Banerjee and MK Chaudhuri refused to pass the order seeking CBI inquiry but kept the matter alive by not disposing it of “in the interest of justice.”
The court did so after amicus curiae lakshim Gupta requested it not to dispose of the case. “Considering the grave nature of the offence in the interest of justice the matter be not disposed of,” Gupta pleaded with the court which accepted his plea.
The `22,000 chit fund scam had reportedly sucked into its vortex several lakh of people who raised fingers at the senior functionaries of the ruling Trinamool Congress.
The affected depositors and agents agitated in front of the Trinamool headquarters for several days before Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee set up the Shyamal Sen Commission to probe the case.
The Commission which was to dispose of the case within six months till now had received more than 5 lakh complaints.