In yet another example of how the Central regime is allegedly using its resources to intimidate political rivals, two central agencies: the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) have now served notice to Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Partha Chatterjee.
The timing of the notice is curious though as I-Core’s chairman Anukul Maiti had been arrested in the case on April 16, 2016.
Chatterjee is a senior minister in the West Bengal government and holds the parliamentary affairs, school education and higher education portfolios in the state where four phases of Assembly elections have concluded and four more are coming up. Chatterjee contested the Assembly elections from the Behala West constituency where polling took place on April 10.
The notices are in connection with the Rs 500 crore ponzi scheme allegedly run by the I-Core group. While the CBI is investigating the chit-fund scam, the ED is probing the money laundering element to the case.
The I-Core ponzi scam was almost as high profile as the Saradha and Rose Valley scams, though lesser in monetary value. SabrangIndia had previously reported how the CBI began vigorously reinvesting in the Saradha case in July 2020 when it filed as many as 30 First Information Reports (FIR) in connection with the case. FIRs were reportedly filed for frauds ranging from Rs 5,000 to Rs 1 crore.
It is also noteworthy that TMC leaders had been implicated in those cases as well, and some of them switched sides to the BJP, allegedly to get a clean chit. These include Mukul Roy and Mithun Chakraborty.
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CBI reinvests vigorously in WB chit-fund case investigations