CBI arrests AITC MPs: Is the caged parrot earning its chillies?

The Rose Valley Chit Fund case was registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in June, 2014 and the agency filed a charge sheet in the case in January, 2016. The arrest of two All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) MPs, Tapas Pal and Sudip Bandopadhyay, a year later has strengthened conspiracy theories and the perception that the central agency is being used by the Centre as a tool for political witch-hunting.

Had the two MPs played a key role in promoting the chit fund scam, the central agency would surely have found sufficient evidence before filing the charge sheet in the case, is the question being asked. The West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has also pointedly asked why the CBI was not interrogating Union Minister Babul Supriyo, who is also said to have shared close relations with promoters of Rose Valley. The minister himself has tweeted that his role was confined to participating in concerts and functions as a singer, for which he presumably got paid.

While neither the precise charge against the two MPs nor the nature of evidence against them are yet known, speculation is that they received money from Rose Valley group of companies which had defrauded people and violated the law. But then so did media groups and Babul Supriyo.

Mamata Banerjee has also wondered aloud why no inquiry was being held against the Prime Minister, whose name figured in the Birla and Sahara papers.

Veteran political commentator Jayanta Ghosal on Wednesday hinted at political vendetta behind the two arrests in Ananda Bazar Patrika and recalled what controversial Samajwadi Party MP Amar Singh had once told him. Singh, he recalled, had quipped that inquiries once initiated by the CBI never cease. “They spring to life if you fall foul of the government of the day”.

The Bengal CM has been accusing the Centre of ‘dirty tricks’ and her apprehension was first strengthened by BJP state president Dilip Ghosh, who made the politically incorrect statement that if necessary they (BJP) could get Mamata Banerjee arrested in Delhi because Delhi Police reported to them. While Ghosh apologised following an outcry, another BJP leader Rahul Sinha quipped on Tuesday that ‘more Banerjees’ were going to be arrested in the wake of Sudip Banerjee.

Rose Valley Hotels & Entertainment reportedly owned nearly 23 properties across India. SEBI had prohibited the sale of real estate by Rose Valley in January 2011. All the 2,600 bank accounts of the company, which together held cash balances of ₹800-1,000 crores, were also frozen by the government.

There were as many as 30 companies under the Rose Valley banner on paper, which includes companies such as Rose Valley Airlines, Rose Valley Microfinance, Rose Valley Fashion, Rose Valley Consultancy, Rose Valley Beverages, Rose Valley Infotech and Rose Valley Housing Finance. Kajal Kundu, the elder brother of Gautam Kundu was said to have built the Rose Valley empire in the span of 18 years.

Kajal Kundu along with his wife and son were killed in an accident in 2003 and the baton of the company passed over to Gautam Kundu.

The million rupee question is how the activities of the Group flourished for quarter of a century despite regulatory bodies and in spite of the CBI.