The best way to escape from getting caught in corruption is to not let the investigation happen and this is exactly what the CMs of West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh has done. First Chandrababu Naidu and then Mamata Banerjee have withdrawn the general consent to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to exercise its authority in the state. Law and order is a state subject and according to Section 6 of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946, the CBI requires the consent of the concerned state before exercising the powers conferred on it under this Act. The states give the consent to CBI on yearly basis and most of the chief ministers want CBI to have legitimate power for investigation in the state so that the leaders at the middle of the pyramid do not get involved in the corruption. Because most of time it is found that second or third tier of leadership which is too necessary to be ignored are involved in corruption. But Naidu and Banerjee shut the doors of their respective states because they do not want the corrupt leaders of the party to get caught.
CBI had also registered a case against Chandrababu Naidu in 2013 when Andhra Pradesh High Court ordered a preliminary probe against him for illegitimate amassment of wealth. The court had also ordered preliminary probe of wealth of family members of Naidu including his wife Bhuvaneshari and son Nara Lokesh. Naidu’s son Nara Lokesh is said to be involved in corruption scandal worth 21,000 crore rupees. He was alleged to have signed fake MoUs with many companies in the name of investment. A petition seeking CBI investigation was filed in Andhra Pradesh High Court by a retired judge K Sravan Kumar. Another complaint against Nara Lokesh was filed in CBI by YSR Congress party for illegal grabbing of government land of 80 acres in Andhra Pradesh. Nara Brahmni, wife of Nara Lokesh, was served notice by the premier investigation agency for a villa purchase in Emaar properties. Chandrababu Naidu is known for being easy on corruption of friendly corporate houses. Satish Sana, a Hyderabad based businessman who is a friend of Naidu was involved in CBI infighting. He claimed to have paid bribe of 2 crore rupees to Rakesh Asthana is an investigation related to meat exporter Moin Qureshi.
CM Ramesh is another person known be close to Naidu who was involved in CBI infighting. Rakesh Asthana, the former acting director of CBI has alleged that Ramesh tried to mediate the matter on behalf of businessman Satish Sana. Earlier, Income Tax Department and Enforcement Directorate, two investigation agencies of financial crimes had raided his locations in matter of financial irregularities in one of Ramesh’s companies.
CM of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee has more solid reasons to ban CBI from her doorsteps. Many high ranking politicians of Trinamool Congress were found to be accepting cash-bribes in exchange for providing unofficial favors to a company in Narada sting operation carried out by Mathew Samuel. The TMC MPs found to be involved in the case are Saugata Roy, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Prasun Bannerjee, Suvendu Adhikari and Sultan Ahmad. The state ministers– Madan Mitra, Subrata Mukherjee and Firhad Hakim and Iqbal Ahmed, the-then deputy mayor of Kolkata Municipal Corporation, were also found to be involved in the scam. The case is being investigated by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Enforcement Directorate (ED) and a parliamentary ethics committee.
Leaders of TMC were also found to be involved in Saradha group financial scandal. The scandal involved 200 companies and as many as 17 lakh people were cheated in the state of West Bengal and neighboring states of Eastern India. The scandal is being investigated by the CBI, the topmost leadership of TMC was found to be involved in the scam including two former Rajya Sabha members- Kunal Ghosh and Srinjoy Ghosh. Another top leader of TMC, Madan Mitra, former minister of sports and transport, was found to be involved in the scam. The leadership of TMC has used state machinery of personal financial gains and therefore it is obvious that Mamata Banerjee will like to shut the doors for CBI. Therefore, it is evident that the withdrawal of consent for CBI investigations by Mamata Banerjee and Chandrababu Naidu is a step to protect their top leaders.
