Saradha: We are safe now, the CBI has to return money, says Mamata

Kolkata, May 9: West Bengal Chief Minister

on Friday said in an election rally in Kandi in Murshidabad that her government was safe after the Supreme Court ordered probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (

) in the

chit fund scam that rocked the state last year.

Thousands of people lost their life savings after the Ponzi scheme of businessman Sudipta Sen went bust. Many people also committed suicide.

Banerjee, welcoming the apex court's orders, said: "We have returned money to 4.5 lakh people in the state. Now, we are safe. The CBI has to return the money. The criminals should be caught and sent to jail."

Mamata said her government is now safe and the CBI will return the money

In another rally in Baharampur, Banerjee accused the Centre of doing little in the chit fund cases and was not giving assent to her government's anti-chit fund bill. He also took a dig at the CBI, saying it had failed to make any inroads in the Netai killings of 2011. It was the CID which made the arrests, she said.

West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra said at the state secretariat that his government had already compensated lakhs and would compensate more people once the poll code of conduct ends. He also took an indirect dig at the decision to initiate the CBI probe just a few days ahead of the crucial fifth phase of Lok Sabha election in West Bengal. "Still we welcome the decision," he said, adding that his party always had faith on the Constitution and judiciary.

Mitra also said that no government in the world had ever compensated for any Ponzi scheme and also asked why no action had been taken in the Sanchayita scam that had taken place in West Bengal under the Left rule in the 1980s.

Oneindia News