Mamata attacks CBI

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has dared Prime Minister Narendra Modi to arrest her and attacked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as the 'political tool' of India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

"Madan Mitra's arrest is the result of shameless political vendetta," she told the press on Friday.

The Trinamool Congress supremo said BJP President Amit Shah had told a Kolkata rally recently that several top Trinamul leaders will be arrested.

"Soon after the CBI sent the notice to Madan Mitra. This is not investigation, this is politics of vendetta," she said amid considerable nervousness in the Trinamul camp over many more possible arrests from its top echelons soon enough.

As the Bengal media went on a speculation overdrive about who will be next in the CBI custody, Mamata's supporters hit the streets in several parts of Kolkata to protest.

Vehicles were diverted from areas where they protested but no violence was reported so far.

CBI officials said Madan Mitra was arrested after he failed to explain 'several crucial questions' over his connection with the multi-crore rupee Saradha chit fund scam.

"We have foolproof evidence about his Saradha links and his involvement in the multi-crore scam. He failed any of our questions satisfactorily," said a CBI official on condition of anonymity.

Former Trinamul leader and editor of a local Bengali daily Asif Khan, who appears to have turned approver recently said that after Madan Mitra, it was Mukul's and Mamata's turn to be arrested.

Apart from other Trinamul leaders like Mukul Roy (former Indian railway minister and Trinamul general secretary), Assam's former health and education minister Himanta Biswa Sarma is also said to be trapped in the woods.

He was recently interrogated by the CBI for eight hours in Guwahati and reportedly failed to explain his position to the satisfaction of the interrogators.

The CBI says they have evidence of Sarma defending Saradha chief Sudipta Sen in the Assam assembly on several occasions.