Roaring at full throttle, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to resign and go back to Gujarat.
Chief Minister Banerjee, who called off her 'Dharana to save the Constitution and the democracy' here on Tuesday said: "The Central government wants to control all the agencies including the state agencies. Prime Minister, you resign from Delhi and go back to Gujarat. One man government, one party government is there."
"Next we will do a programme in Delhi. I can go on with the 'dharna' but now that we have got justice from one pillar of democracy, that is, judiciary I announce to end the 'dharna.' The Supreme Court gave a positive judgement today. This 'dharna' was to save our democracy, Constitution, IAS-IPS officers, agencies, civil servants. This 'dharna' is a victory for the people, democracy and the Constitution."
She also said that the Central government's claim that Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar had joined her in the protest was not true.
"The truth is Rajeev Kumar never joined the protest. Is Rajeev Kumar their nightmare? Why are they so scared of? As per the protocol wherever PM, CM or any other minister or Governor goes, the police always has to be with them to give them security," she said.
A full-blown face-off between Chief Minister Banerjee led TMC government and the Centre erupted after a CBI team moved to arrest Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar. CBI officials were denied entry to the top cop's residence and were detained briefly too.
Escalating her confrontation with the Centre, Chief Minister Banerjee started a sit-in on Sunday night to protest against what the TMC called a 'coup' by Prime Minister Modi led NDA government at the Centre.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday, however, directed Kumar to appear before the CBI in connection with the Saradha chit fund scam probe.
But the bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said that no coercive step should be taken against Kumar, who will appear before the CBI in Shillong in Meghalaya.
The Supreme Court, which posted further hearing in the case to February 20, also issued a contempt notice to West Bengal Chief Secretary, the DGP and the Kolkata Police Commissioner on a plea which said that a CBI team was detained when it went to question Kumar on Sunday.
The Supreme Court's directions came a day after the CBI approached the apex court to complain that Kumar, a senior IPS officer, was not cooperating in the chit fund scam probe, which is monitored by the top court.
An attempt by the CBI to question Kumar at his residence in Kolkata on Sunday was foiled by the local police, which detained the team of the central investigative agency for some time.
The CBI, in an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court, alleged that there were several incriminating materials or correspondence in the Saradha chit fund case that were collected during the investigation by the CBI against the senior police officials and politicians.
The CBI affidavit states that "the investigation was being done by an SIT and crucial evidence such as laptops, mobile phones among others was handed over to the main accused in Saradha scam case by the investigating officer of West Bengal police working under the direct supervision of Rajeev Kumar."
The affidavit further states that the "return of crucial evidence to main accused by the SIT, despite regular monitoring by Calcutta High Court, clearly shows connivance of SIT to a larger conspiracy wherein local authorities obstructed probe and attempted to destroy evidence prior to the transfer of the case to CBI by the Supreme Court."
The CBI had on Monday filed a contempt plea in the Supreme Court against the Chief Secretary of West Bengal, the Director General of Police and the Kolkata Police Commissioner for their alleged willful and deliberate violation of the apex court orders.
The agency said the non-cooperation of Rajeev Kumar was brought to the notice of the West Bengal DGP. However, neither the DGP nor the Police Commissioner co-operated alleged the CBI.
The CBI is investigating this case under a "hostile environment and non-cooperation from the state of West Bengal and its agencies/departments," the petition said.
Rajeev Kumar, a 1989-batch IPS officer, has been serving as Kolkata's Police Commissioner since January 2016. He has allegedly not responded summons from the CBI in connection with their probe into the Rose Valley and Saradha ponzi scams.
Kumar led the SIT investigation into the scams until 2014 when the agency took over following directions from the Supreme Court. The CBI was slated to question Kumar about documents that reportedly went missing.
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