& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Saradha Fund Scam

West Bengal minister Madan Mitra held

Mamata terms it conspiracy

Our Correspondent, New Delhi
West Bengal Transport Minister Madan Mitra, a key aide to the Indian state's Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, was arrested yesterday in connection with the multi-crore rupee Saradha chit fund scam.
He was arrested by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on the prima facie evidence of criminal conspiracy, cheating, and misappropriation of funds as well as deriving undue financial benefits from Saradha Group, a CBI spokesman said in Kolkata.
Mitra was arrested in Kolkata after five hours of intense questioning at the CBI office since yesterday morning.
This is the third major arrest of a key Trinamool Congress leader in the scam since November last year.
Earlier, two party MPs Kunal Ghosh and Srinjay Bose were held in connection with the scam in which crores of rupees of several lakh of investors was misappropriated on promises of lucrative returns. The scheme collapsed last year. Trinamool leaders termed the arrest of Mitra "politically motivated" and said they had anticipated the "vindictive move" after BJP President Amit Shah's recent rally in Kolkata.
Reacting to this, Amit Shah said: "CBI is doing its work."
West Bengal Panchayat Minister Subrata Mukherjee alleged that CBI had become BJP's "tool" and BJP was “indulging in politics of vindictiveness".
BJP in West Bengal said the investigation into the chit fund scam was slowly leading to Mamata Banerjee's doorstep.
BJP National Secretary Siddharth Nath Singh alleged that Mitra's arrest showed Trinamool (TMC) leadership's involvement in the scam.
Communist Party of India's (Marxist) Mohammed Salim said: "Madan Mitra is not only a minister but is also a close aide to Mamata Banerjee.
"Now the people of Bengal are getting impatient. They want more culprits in Saradha scam to be arrested. Saradha owner and TMC top leadership was operating as a joint venture in Bengal," Salim added.
Congress leader Abdul Mannan demanded Mamata Banerjee give an explanation for Mitra's arrest and resign.
Mamata Reaction
Mamata Banerjee has reacted angrily to the arrest of Madan Mitra and termed it a "political vendetta" and a "dirty conspiracy" by BJP and dared the federal Indian government to arrest her.
"What has happened is illegal and unconstitutional. It is a dangerous step towards the destruction of democratic institutions. My government condemns the arrest in the strictest of terms," she told reporters in Kolkata.
"It is a conspiracy, a very dirty conspiracy, I ask the Prime Minister to put me in jail first. He (Mitra) was called as a witness. Within a few hours he was arrested. Is it not a political vendetta?" asked an angry Mamata.
"I will visit Mitra in SSKM Hospital [when he will be taken there for medical examination]. Arrest me with whatever police Narendra Modi and Amit Shah have at their disposal," she said.
Taking on the BJP leadership and its president Amit Shah, the Trinamool Congress boss said, "We will tear open their masks; we will fight them in Delhi."
"A man who himself has been arrested and charge sheeted by CBI is pointing finger at us," she said.
She said Trinamool Congress would hit the streets from today and threatened to take up the issue in parliament.
"The situation in India is like Emergency now, a new battle has begun. We accept your challenge," she said, adding the "centre” was behaving like a coward and an autocrat.