In CBI vs Kolkata Police face-off, Rajnath Singh delivers a sharp warning

The tussle between the Mamata Banerjee government and the Centre has snowballed into an opposition versus BJP fight. Home minister Rajnath Singh told the Lok Sabha on Monday that the incident in Kolkata is a threat to the federal structure of the country.

Rajnath Singh said the Kolkata Police-CBI face-off was unfortunate. “The incident in Kolkata is threat to federal political system of country. There may be constitutional breakdown in West Bengal,” he said.

The showdown began on Sunday when a CBI team reached Kolkata police commissioner Rajeev Kumar’s house to question him over the Saradha scam. In retaliation, Kolkata Police also sent its teams to the CBI offices in the the city and



the residence of CBI’s West Bengal unit chief Pankaj Srivastava.

Rajnath, who was addressing the House amid slogans by opposition members, said the Centre has power to maintain normalcy in any part of the country. His reply came after the Trinamool Congress raised the issue in Parliament.

“The Kolkata police commissioner was not cooperating in the CBI probe into the ponzi scam cases. Several summons were issued to him,” the home minister said.

The CBI moved the Supreme Court on Monday seeking directions to Kolkata police commissioner Rajeev Kumar to cooperate with the investigation in Saradha chit fund case. The court will hear the matter on Tuesday.