CBI-TMC Face-Off: SC Puts Off Hearing to Tuesday
Image for representational use only; Image Courtesy : NDTV
New Delhi:The Supreme Court on Monday postponed to Tuesday the hearing of a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) plea against Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar, who is accused of destroying evidence related to the Sarada chit fund scam.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi declined a plea by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta seeking an urgent hearing on Monday.
Describing the situation as "extraordinary", Mehta said: "We fear evidence will be destroyed."
In response, the Chief Justice said: "We were late in reaching the court by a few minutes because we were reading your application... There's no evidence of what you're saying right now. If you show one proof they are tampering or even remotely thinking of it, we'll come down so heavily that they will regret it."
Mamata Continues Sit-in
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee continued her sit-in protest in Kolkata on Monday over the CBI’s attempt to question Kumar in connection with a Ponzi scheme scam.
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo has accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah of attempting to destabilise her government.
Banerjee was joined in her protest by Samajwadi Party leader Kiranmoy Nanda.
The TMC leader was surrounded by her Ministers and top party leaders, stayed up the entire night on a makeshift dais at the city hub Dharamtala area, near the Metro Channel, after starting the demonstration around 9 p.m. on Sunday.
There is a blanket security cover in the area.
"This is a satyagrahaand I'll continue till the country is saved," Banerjee told the reporters here.
The Chief Minister said she was getting calls from politicians, including former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, all of whom expressed their support for her action.
Meanwhile, TMC supporters held a protest demonstration and put up rail and road blocks in various parts of the city and districts.
A large number of party activists also arrived at Dharamtala to express solidarity.
In an unprecedented confrontation between the Narendra Modi-led Central government and the West Bengal government, Banerjee began the sit-in accusing Modi and Shah of attempting a coup to destabilise her state, saying there is a "constitutional break-down", after an ugly face-off between the CBI and the state police.
The showdown started after the federal probe agency's officers showed up near the Kolkata residence of Kumar, who has been under the scanner in connection with the CBI probe into the Sarada scam case.
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