After AP, Mamata bars CBI to conduct raids and probes without approval

NEW DELHI: After Andhra Pradesh, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday has decided to stop the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) from raids and investigations in Bengal.

In Andhra Pradesh, the minister said the decision to keep the CBI away was not motivated by any particular case but by the fear of “what is likely to happen”.

Explain his government’s order, Andhra home minister N Chinarajappa said, “If you see the developments in last 2-3 months, CBI is being misused for political purposes.”

The Trinamool Congress supremo, one of the first ones to cheer Chandrababu Naidu at a party’s core committee meeting during the day said, “What Chandrababu Naidu has done is absolutely right. We should also think about it. Instructions (to the agency) are given from BJP offices. The BJP is using the CBI and other agencies to pursue its own political interests and vendetta.”

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On Friday, the two state governments had withdrawn the consent to the CBI, accusing the Centre of misusing the agency against the opposition parties saying scams cannot be wiped off by such a decision.

Reacting to the controversy, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday flayed the Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal governments for withdrawing “general consent”.

“We have a federal structure and under it the CBI was created initially for employees of the Central government and then to investigate very serious cases referred either by states or on court orders. Saradha and Naradha cannot be wiped off,” he told a media conference.