On a day when West Bengal Transport Minister Madan Mitra was sent to judicial custody in the Saradha scam, five of his ministerial colleagues met Governor K.N. Tripathi complaining against the CBI investigation that was "aimed only at the ruling party".
Submitting a memorandum to Tripathi, the delegation led by Education Minister Partha Chatterjee also questioned Mitra's arrest asserting prior information to the authorities concerned was not given by the Central Bureau of Investigation before arresting the minister.
"In the name of investigation, the CBI is arresting only Trinamool leaders. If the CBI really feels that we are culprits, then let them charge sheet us. The CBI is being used as a political tool to settle score against us," Chatterjee, also the Trinamool Congress secretary general told media persons after the meeting.
Expressing displeasure over the way Mitra was arrested by the CBI, Chatterjee claimed that even the governor was not aware about the action.
Stressing on the state government's endeavour to indemnify the duped Saradha investors, Chatterjee also questioned why the CBI has not arrested any of the Marxist leaders when the chit fund companies mushroomed during the erstwhile Left Front regime.
"Why the CBI is not arresting CPI-M leaders during whose rule, chit fund companies mushroomed in the state," said Chatterjee who was accompanied by Panchayat Minister Subrata Mukherjee, Power Minister Manish Gupta, Health and Family Welfare Minister Sashi Panda and Law Minster Chandrima Bhattacharya.