Bengal Opposition parties on Tuesday raised a hue and cry demanding a thorough probe into reports of shady deals between the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) and the Saradha group during Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s tenure as Railway Minister, even as the State ruling outfit’s number two Mukul Roy hit back at the Centre for “using the CBI as a tool in its hands to settle political scores.”
In a parallel development, CBI sleuths have reportedly prepared a detailed list of properties of State Transport Minister Madan Mitra who is “likely to be questioned this week” and whose name had repeatedly cropped up for his alleged involvement in Saradha’s dealing.
Within hours of the report becoming public, that the CBI had tracked a four-year-old deal between Saradha Tours and Travels and the IRCTC, struck during Mamata Banerjee’s tenure as Railway Minister, Bengal Opposition leader Surya Kanto Mishra demanded “serious and complete investigations into the agreement” adding his party was keeping a close watch on the developments.
Senior Calcutta High Court advocate and CPI(M) leader Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, who had fought for a CBI probe into the Saradha scam, said the CBI will have a look into the deal from all angles keeping in view that it is a court-monitored investigation. He added it was not the question of any particular political party, but the whole of Bengal and particularly the cheated people who want a thorough probe into the scam, including the IRCTC deal.
PCC president and former junior Railway Minister Adhir Chowdhury demanded a “joint grilling of IRCTC bosses, Mamata Banerjee and Saradha chief Sudipto Sen” adding “only when these three sides are made to sit face to face, the CBI will be able to get to the bottom of the deal.” There was a need to understand whether the then Railway Minister played any role in the deal or not, he said. In 2010, the IRCTC struck a business deal with Saradha Tours and Travels owned by the jailed ponzi kingpin Sudipto Sen for a tourism package called Bharat Teertha. The CBI recently stumbled upon the relevant documents and asked the Railway Ministry to hand over copies of the stated agreement. It is also investigating allegations that Saradha Tours and Travels was awarded the contract without any tender being floated.
Demanding a thorough probe into the deals, former State BJP president Tathagata Roy said the party that once demanded a CBI probe at the drop of a hat should not have any problem in facing the investigating agency when its turn had come. His party colleague Samik Bhattacharya said: “The Trinamool Congress and those at the helm will have to face the probe in any case because they must remember that the investigations were ordered not by the Centre but by the Supreme Court.” It was an open secret that the Trinamool Congress and Saradha were a single unit he said, adding that only a CBI probe would unravel the mystery.
Former CPI(M) MP Sujan Chakraborty said: “The time has come when these leaders should be handcuffed and put behind bars. One hopes the CBI will be able to do it by carrying out an impartial investigation into the Bharat Teertha scam.” Meanwhile, even as the Opposition outfits raised their voices demanding “complete investigation” into the IRCTC deal, Mukul Roy launched a massive broadside against the BJP-led Centre for “trying to settle scores with Opposition parties by unleashing the CBI on them.”
Going hammer and tongs against the Centre, he said: “Earlier we knew that the CBI was the Congress Bureau of Investigation. Today their masters have changed but the system remains the same as the CBI continues to act at the behest of those in Delhi.” He wondered why the BJP had raised a hue and cry when Narendra Modi was grilled for 19 hours without any result. “The BJP is now trying to do the same against us. let them do it and we are ready to give a befitting reply,” he said.