Sudip’s arrest political vendetta, says wife

Bhubaneswar, Jan 5 (IANS) Nayna Bandyopadhyay, wife of arrested Trinamool Congress MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay, on Thursday said political vendetta is the reason for the arrest of her husband.

"It is very much clear that the CBI is being used by the BJP. From back-to-back arrest of two Trinamool leaders, it is evident that political vendetta is the reason behind Sudip's arrest," Nayna told media persons here.

Nayna, a Trinamool MLA, spent about one hour at the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) office here. She came to meet Sudip, who has been arrested for his alleged links with the Rose Valley group chit fund scam, said sources.

The Trinamool MP is currently under a six-day CBI remand for further interrogation over his alleged complicity in the scam. A special court here on Wednesday rejected the bail plea of Bandyopadhyay and remanded him to six-day CBI custody.

A four-time Lok Sabha member and a minister of state in the Manmohan Singh government, Sudip was brought here on Tuesday night after his arrest by the CBI at Kolkata.

Protesting against the arrest of Sudip, Nayna had said in Kolkata on Wednesday that the CBI has turned into the central government's "caged parrot".

"The CBI has become a caged parrot of the central government. How can they arrest an MP and a senior politician like Sudip Bandyopadhyay on fake charges when he was summoned for interrogation in the case?" she said.

Sudip's arrest came days after the arrest of another party MP Tapas Pal in the Rose Valley chit fund case.

Both MPs are in CBI custody in Bhubaneswar. The investigating agency has taken Pal on three-day remand for further interrogation.