BJP threatening Mukul, Subhendu of arrest in Saradha scam: Mamata

Kolkata, Jan 31
Accusing the BJP of threatening her party leaders Mukul Roy and Subhendu Adhikari of arrest over the Saradha scam if they did not quit the Trinamool Congress, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Saturday said she had done nothing wrong and was not afraid of going to jail.

Banerjee's comments at the Trinamool core committee meeting came a day after party all-India general secretary and former railway minister Roy was quizzed for over four hours by the Central Bureau of Investigation in connection with the multi-crore-rupee Saradha ponzi scandal.

"I have never done any wrong. I have never compromised on anything. My life is a life of struggle. If they want, they can arrest me and put me behind bars. I am not at all afraid," Banerjee reportedly said at the Trinamool meeting in which a number of her party MPs and legislators were present.

Roy and Adhikari both attended the deliberations.

Sources present at the meeting said Banerjee alleged that the CBI was indulging in political conspiracy and inflicting psychological torture on her senior leaders.

"The BJP told Mukul Roy if he did not split the party, they will arrest him. Again they asked Subhendu to quit the Trinamool and cross over to the BJP. They said if he did not do so, the CBI will nab him in the Saradha case," Banerjee alleged.

The Trinamool supremo is said to have assured Adhikari, a Lok Sabha member, that the party would back him even if he was arrested. "So Subhendu, don't be afraid," she said.

Adhikari was grilled by the CBI with regard to the scam Sep 24 last year.

However, speaking to media persons ahead of the meeting, Roy did not allege any conspiracy or psychological torture on the part of the CBI.

He rather expressed his readiness to go to the investigating agency whenever they summoned him.

"I have articulated my stand. My party is spelling out its stand. I reiterate if the investigating agency summons me 100 times, I will go to them 100 times," Roy said.

Ridiculing Banerjee, BJP national secretary and observer for the state Siddharth Nath Singh said Banerjee has developed the habit of "predicting the future".

"I can't say how far her predictions will come true. But in the past, she has wondered whether some of her party leaders were thieves. Now all of them are in the dock. The BJP believes in democracy. We don't threaten people. Mamata ji must have done some wrong. So she is afraid," he said.