Sukna: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee during a press conference at Sukna of Darjeeling District, West Bengal on Nov. 5, 2015. (Photo: IANS)
Kolkata, March 5 (IANS) Standing by her party colleague Madan Mitra, now languishing behind bars for his alleged involvement in the multi-billion rupee Saradha ponzi scam, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday said while action should be taken if he was guilty, she could not understand why he was not being granted bail despite being in jail for over a year.
"Let them file a charge sheet, prove it. Let them take action if he is guilty, the party will not take responsibility.
"He has been kept under arrest for 15 months. I don't understand. Even thieves and dacoits get bails, murderers, also. If Madan has committed any wrong, take action as per the law. Who is preventing you?" Banerjee said in an interview to a private television channel 24 Ghanta.
The Trinamool Congress supremo's comments came on a day her party renominated Mitra, a former state minister, as one of its candidates in the coming assembly polls. Mitra has been in jail since December 2014, except for a few days last November.
Banerjee virtually found fault with the Central Bureau of investigation's claim that he had regularly attended programmes organised by the Saradha group.
"His only mistake has he attended some programmes. But he went there because he was invited. We get so many invites. So many people click my photos on their mobiles, when I am on the streets, or even travelling by air? I don't know any of them. If some of them are bad, what can I do?" she said.
Asked about Bharatiya Janata Party national secretary Siddharth Nath Singh's slogan "Bhag Mamata Bhag" in 2014 in relation to the Saradha scam, Banerjee said: "I feel sad and angry. This is a big insult, humiliation for me. If I get a chance I will get my revenge one day, in the sense that truth will prevail".
Terming the entire Saradha scam probe launched by the CBI as a "total conspiracy", Banerjee said one day it would be proved that the allegations raised against her and her party were baseless.
"I believe in God. Those who are actual culprits will be punished in the long run. So far no action has been taken against the actual culprits," she said.
Banerjee said she could not accept the way her party has been defamed because her opponents were unable to fight her politically.
"But I tell you, till the last moment of my life, I want justice."
