BJP Leader’s Claim On Why Enforcement Directorate Was Sent To Bengal

Dilip Ghosh claimed this was why a few officers of the CBI were transferred out of Bengal. (File)

Kolkata:

Some CBI officers had “a setting (understanding)” with Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress, so the Enforcement Directorate was sent to investigate corruption in the state, BJP leader Dilip Ghosh has said in a startling claim.

Speaking at an event in Kolkata, Dilip Ghosh said it was because of an “understanding” between some CBI officers and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s party that nothing had moved for long in the investigations into the coal scam, the cattle smuggling case and the school jobs scam.

“Due to a setting between a section of CBI officials in West Bengal and the TMC, the investigations by the agency were not yielding any results. The investigations dragged on for months… Some CBI officers were sold out, some in lakhs, some in crores,” the Lok Sabha MP said during a seminar on the “Horrors of Partition” organised by the Ministry of Culture.

“Then the ED (Enforcement Directorate) started working on the orders of the Finance Ministry. The dose of the medicine has been raised. ED will keep biting the guilty. It cannot be controlled like a pet dog, which will overlook the misdeeds of those who try to tame it,” Mr Ghosh said.

He also claimed this was why a few officers of the CBI, which reports to the Union Home Ministry, were transferred out of Bengal.

According to the Bengal BJP leader, the Centre had ordered the Enforcement Directorate to investigate various cases after “an indication” that the agency had a secret pact with the Trinamool. Many Trinamool leaders, Mr Ghosh added, are afraid that Enforcement Directorate officials cannot be manipulated like CBI officers.

Mr Ghosh also said it was the beginning of the end of Mamata Banerjee’s rule with investigations picking up pace and with the arrest of big fish.

The Trinamool Congress retaliated by suggesting that Mr Ghosh had undermined Union Home Minister Amit Shah by accusing the CBI of corruption.

The party has accused the Centre of using the CBI and Enforcement Directorate to target rivals.

The Enforcement Directorate arrested former Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee in the school jobs scam in July. He has since been sacked by the Trinamool.

Another Trinamool leader, Anubrata Mondal, was arrested by the CBI in a cattle smuggling case.

With inputs from agencies