The West Bengal government and the state's political leadership have created "unnecessary obstruction" in the way of CBI investigation into the Saradha ponzi scam, Union minister Kiren Rijiju said Monday.
Rijiju, the Union minister of state for home, also claimed that there has been no face-off between the Centre and the West Bengal government on the issue of the CBI seeking to question Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar in the alleged scam.
"This is not a face-off for us. This is just that the West Bengal government and the political leadership of the state have created unnecessary obstruction in the way of investigation going on under the direction of the Supreme Court," he told reporters here.
Rijiju said all concerned must follow the rule of law and abide by them.
"We must follow the norms of any investigating agency and the procedural aspects. We must ensure that the rule of law is prevailed," he said.
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The controversy arose when a CBI team had reached the Kolkata police commissioner's home Sunday evening to apparently question him in connection with Saradha and Rose Valley scam cases and they were blocked by local police personnel guarding the residence of their chief.
As the CBI team landed at the gates, a team of Kolkata Police officers rushed to the spot to speak to the CBI officials and tried to enquire if they had the documents required for questioning the commissioner.
Later on, a small team of CBI officials was taken to Shakespeare Sarani police station for further discussions.
Thereafter, more men arrived at the spot and a commotion ensued. Some CBI officers were then forcibly bundled into police jeeps and taken to the police station.
According to CBI, Kumar, who led a Special Investigation Team of West Bengal Police probing the scams, needs to be questioned regarding missing documents and files but he has not responded to notices to appear before the agency.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee sat on a dharna outside Metro Cinema, a city landmark, in protest against the alleged high-handedness of the Centre and "insults" meted out to her by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah.
The investigations in these cases have been expedited in the run-up to the general election, due by May, with the agency recently questioning a close aide of Banerjee at his residence.
The CBI-Kolkata Police row Monday washed out proceedings in both houses of Parliament, even as Home Minister Rajnath Singh termed the developments in West Bengal "unprecedented" and warned that the Centre has powers to take action.
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