Mamata Banerjee blasts CBI, says it take up cases which suit them politically

KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief minister Mamata Banerjee told West Bengal Legislative Assembly (WBLA) on Tuesday the "CBI takes up cases which suits it politically and does not show interest in others."

"I had referred 14 cases to the CBI for investigation including the Ranaghat nun rape incident. But the agency did not take up any of those," she told the House.

Admitting that she had the penchant for seeking a CBI probe into incidents, the chief minister claimed that her stand regarding the central probe agency was now changing.

"They (CBI) do what suits them politically," the chief minister said without referring to the ongoing CBI probe into the Saradha chit fund scam in which some of her ministers and leaders were allegedly involved. She also admitted in the House that her idea of CBI was changing and it was "only about marketing".

When asked to probe the Ranaghat nun gangrape case, CBI said no, she said. It had also closed the case relating to theft of Nobel medal of Rabindranath Tagore as it failed to do anything, she said.

It is Mamata Banerjee who used to demand CBI investigation into any incident of killing or political clashes when she was in the opposition. She had demanded CBI probe into Chhoto Angaria incident in which house of a political activists was set on fire and several persons were killed reportedly. She also demanded CBI investigation into the death of Rizwanur Rahaman whose body was found beside railway tracks in 2007. She also demanded CBI probes into Nandigram massacre and murder of Tapasi Malik, a Singur girl during her Singua agitation.

But now being the chief minister, Mamata has changed her attitude towards the Central probe agency. She was also very critical of the CBI which probed Netai killings in West Midnapore district, investigated into Nandigram massacre. Mamata was also critical of the CBI for it's failure to solve the case of Tagore's Nobel prize theft.

But on Tuesday, she made a frank admission in the state Assembly saying that her attitude towards the CBI was changing now.