Constitutional breakdown in Bengal: Rajnath:

 Union Home Minister Rajanth Singh has spoken  to West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi to take stock of the situation in the wake of a CBI team being allegedly obstructed by the state police to grill the Kolkata Police commissioner in the Saradha ponzi scam case, officials said Monday.  

The ministry has decided to deploy central forces at the official and residential premises of the Central Bureau of Investigation in West Bengal and the MHA is now "closely monitoring the situation", they said.

The Home Ministry on Sunday evening received information that officers of the CBI in Kolkata had experienced "intimidation and threat to personal safety in course of investigation into the Saradha scam being conducted under the directions of the Supreme Court", they said. Singh called up the governor to be apprised of the facts of the "unfortunate and unprecedented situation of CBI officers being manhandled, detained, intimidated and obstructed", the officials said. 

Tripathi told Singh that he had summoned the chief secretary and director general of police (DGP) and asked them to take immediate action to resolve the situation, according to the officials. Reports were also received that the residence of Joint Director of the CBI was surrounded by Kolkata police, they said. --  PTI

Home Minister Rajnath Singh Monday said there may be a constitutional breakdown in West Bengal in the wake of the Kolkata Police-CBI face-off and asserted that the Centre has power to take action. Amidst din in the Lok Sabha, he also termed as "unprecedented" the move to stop the probe agency from performing its duty.

 

 

The home minister said the action was taken after the SC had ordered an investigation into Saradha chit fund case. "The Police Commissioner was summoned many times but he did not appear. West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi has summoned Chief Secretary and Director General of Police and has asked them to take immediate action to resolve the situation," Rajnath Singh said.

 

 

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.

 

 

Making a statement in Lok Sabha on the prevailing situation in Kolkata, Singh described the action against the CBI probe team, which went to question Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar, as "unprecedented" and a threat to the federal political system of the country. "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.

 

 

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.

 

 

 Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal: Whatever central govt did in West Bengal is very dangerous, against constitution and democracy... Every state has an elected govt, if PM sends CBI & ED like this & try to scare the officers then this country will not be safe.

Union Minister Smriti Irani: The fact that paramilitary forces had to be deployed for the protection of those officers, who were diligently doing their duty, is for the first time an unprecedented view given to the citizen with regards to the state of anarchy in West Bengal.

 Union Minister Prakash Javadekar on the CBI vs Mamata 'emergency' in Bengal: 

"Ye Mamataji ki emergency hai Bengal mein. Hamari nahi hai, Mamata ji ki hai.  Opposition parties have supported Mamata Banerjee. Who are these people? They are out on bail. Such people are standing together. This is not Mahagathbandhan, they are divided by vision and united by corruption. The corrupt are standing together. 

"Whatever is happening in Kolkata and West Bengal is one of a kind. Never before was an investigating team taken into custody by police. It's murder of democracy. 

"We want to ask Mamata Banerjee why is she staging dharna, who does she want to shield? Police Commissioner or herself?"    

12:26  Heads up, Bongs:  Markandey Katju, former Press Council of India chief and SC judge, has a sense of humour. Katju tweets on the CBI vs Mamata faceoff in Bengal... 

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