CBI-Kolkata police face-off: Parliament adjourned amid noisy protests
After repeated adjournments, both the houses were adjourned for the day.
New Delhi: The ongoing CBI-Kolkata police slugfest on Monday led to a washout of proceedings in both houses of Parliament, even as home minister Rajnath Singh termed the developments in West Bengal as “unprecedented” and warned that the Centre has powers to take action.
After repeated adjournments, both the houses were adjourned for the day.
In the Lok Sabha, Trinamul Congress members were joined in their protest by members of the Congress, BJD, NCP, SP and RJD who spoke out against the Centre over developments in West Bengal, with many of them alleging that the Narendra Modi government was misusing the CBI.
West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC leader Mamata Banerjee Sunday began a sit-in protest in Kolkata over the CBI’s attempt to question the Kolkata Police chief in connection with chit fund scams.
A CBI team, which went to Kumar’s residence in the city’s Loudon Street area, was denied permission, bundled into police jeeps and whisked to a police station on Sunday.
Amid noisy protests by Trinamul Congress members, Rajnath Singh told the Lok Sabha that it was “unprecedented” that the CBI was stopped from lawfully doing its duty when it wanted to question Kolkata Police chief Rajeev Kumar regarding chit fund scams on Sunday.
In the first reaction from the Centre on the incident, the Home Minister said the CBI team wanted to question Kumar as he was “not cooperating”.
Earlier, opposition parties in Lok Sabha attacked the government over the alleged misuse of central agencies against political rivals, saying it was against democratic norms.