New Delhi, May 2 (IANS) A Trinamool Congress MP Thursday asked for a CBI probe into the chit fund scam saying the national agency was best suited to investigate the issue which involved multiple states.
“Let the CBI inquire to find who is involved. Nobody is above law,” Somendra Nath Mitra told a television channel here, in the wake of the chit fund-funded Saradha company going bust, unable to pay back lakhs of depositors who had parked their hard-earned money in such companies lured by the promise of huge returns which banks and post offices cannot match.
He said since the chit fund mess was not confined only to West Bengal, a probe in the state would not suffice.
“This is not a matter of one state, a lot of states are involved – Assam, Tripura, Jharkhand, Bihar. So only probe in West Bengal will not suffice.
“So probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation is needed. It is a national agency. Then the truth will come out,” said Mitra, who had written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in September 2011, asking for immediate steps against the mushrooming chit funds in the states.
Calling them “unprincipled companies”, Mitra had said they were accumulating deposits “mostly from guileless rural and semi urban public, unrestrained by any regulatory administrative mechanism, luring them with promise of sky-high returns”.
Mitra had then alleged that such companies prospered “with patronage of politicians who have even helped some ‘chit fund’ owners to enter the illustrious House of Parliament.”
On Thursday Mitra said had steps been taken earlier, the common people would have been saved. “I found then the way the poor people of Bengal were getting involved, there should be some security for depositors.
“I have no problems with businessmen. But I have seen in the past that such chit funds shut shop after cheating people. This time the effect is more as they have penetrated in remote villages also. So I felt such villagers would not be able to absorb the shock. They may even commit suicide”.
The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by authors, news service providers on this page do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of Hill Post. Any views or opinions are not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, or individual.
Hill Post makes no representations as to the accuracy or completeness of any information on this site page.
