No let going in Saradha scam probe: PM Modi to CBI

New Delhi, Sept 1: Prime Minister

has reportedly asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (

) not to let loose its ongoing

into the

chit fund scam involving a Bengali businessman even under heavy political pressure. According to a report published in Anandabazaar Patrika (ABP), the prime minister's office (PMO) has also asked various ministries not to interfere in the investigation or meet the CBI chief.

The West Bengal government was against the CBI probe in the scam from the very beginning. It was the Supreme Court which had ordered an inquiry into the case and since then, the more the CBI has made advancements in the case, the more it has been accused of being used as a tool for political purpose. Various leaders of the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC), including its chief Mamata Banerjee, have attacked the CBI as a weapon for political revenge. The BJP, however, has refused the charges.

PM Modi is committed to build a corruption-free India, observers felt

The Saradha scam was caused by the collapse of a Ponzi scheme run by Saradha Group, an association of over 200 private companies that was said to be running a wide variety of collective investment schemes. The group crumbled in April 2013, causing an estimated loss of 200-300 billion to over 1.7 million depositors. Its chief Sudipta Sen was arrested with two of his companions from Jammu and Kashmir where they had reached by car.

According to observers, PM Modi is trying to convey the message that he is fully committed to make a corruption-free India as his party had promised in its poll manifesto ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha election. Sources in the bureaucracy said the fact that the CBI has launched a preliminary probe against three companies backed by billionaire Gautam Adani for allegedly overvaluing power equipment imports despite the fact that the man is close to the prime minister has shown the Modi government's transparent functioning, the ABP report said.

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