Rajnath Singh warns of a possible constitutional breakdown in West Bengal

New Delhi, Feb 4: Terming the West Bengal government's move to stop the CBI from performing its duty as "unprecedented", Union Home minister Rajnath Singh told the Lok Sabha on Monday that the incident in Kolkata is a threat to federal political system.

An all-out war broke out between the Centre and the Mamata Banerjee government on Sunday over the CBI's attempt to question the Kolkata Police commissioner in connection with chit fund scams. In an unprecedented development, a number of CBI officers, who had gone to question Kolkata Police chief Rajeev Kumar in connection with chit fund scam cases, were bundled into police jeeps, whisked to a police station and detained on Sunday.

"The Supreme Court in its earlier order on the CBI investigation of Saradha chit fund case had said that CBI in its investigation till now had found involvement of many political and influential persons," Rajnath Singh said in the Lower House.

"The action was taken after SC had ordered an investigation into Saradha chit fund case. The Police Commissioner was summoned many times but he did not appear, which is why the CBI had to go to the police officers house," the Home Minister added.

He added that it was chief minister Mamata Banerjee who was stopping CBI from investigating over the chit fund scam.

"There may be constitutional breakdown in West Bengal... under the Constitution, the central government has been vested with the power to maintain normalcy in any part of the country," he said.

Earlier, opposition parties in Lok Sabha attacked the government over the alleged misuse of central agencies against political rivals, saying it was against democratic norms.

Members from Trinamool Congress, Biju Janata Dal, NCP and Samajwadi Party spoke against the CBI move to question the Kolkata police chief. A CPI-M member said both the Trinamool Congress and the Centre were at fault.

The CBI on Monday approached the Supreme Court and sought for an urgent hearing after its officers were detained by the West Bengal police. The Supreme Court will hear CBI's plea on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee is sitting on a dharna in Kolkata from Sunday evening to protest the move of the CBI to question Kolkata Police commissioner Rajeev Kumar.

OneIndia News with PTI inputs