Left Front leaders meet PM Narendra Modi - Livemint

Left front chairman Biman Bose (left) along with CPM member Sitaram Yechury (right) arrive to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi during Parliament’s winter session in New Delhi. Photo: PTI

New Delhi: A Left Front delegation including members of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPM, Revolutionary Socialist Party, Communist Party of India and the Forward Bloc on Monday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure a coordinated investigation of the Saradha chit fund scam by various agencies.

The scam that surfaced in West Bengal last year, hurting the savings of thousands of small depositors, is a potential platform for the CPM-led Left Front to attack the Trinamool Congress led by chief minister Mamata Banerjee ahead of state polls in 2016. The Left Front was ousted in 2011 after ruling West Bengal for more than three decades.

The delegation submitted a memorandum to Modi, urging the central government to ensure coordination in investigations of the scam, in connection with which two Trinamool members of Parliament, Kunal Ghosh and Srinjoy Bose , have been arrested.

“In communications with earlier governments, it was pointed out, inter alia, the inadequacy of action on part of the state and central governments in this matter. It was urged to involve and forge coordination between various investigation agencies under the central government like Sebi, SFIO, CBI and ED along with other state agencies,” the Left Front said in the memorandum.

Sebi is the Securities and Exchange Board of India, the capital market regulator; SFIO is the Serious Frauds Investigation Office, CBI the Central Bureau of Investigation and ED the Enforcement Directorate, which probes misuse of foreign exchange regulations.

“Various names have been raised by the people who have been interrogated... We urge the investigations include everyone mentioned, whoever it may be and on whichever position,” CPM’s Sitaram Yechury said.

Responding to a question of the Left joining hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Yechury said, “Where is the BJP involved in this? It is a straight-forward case of fraud. We are asking for action to be taken against the guilty.”