The ghost of the multi-crore Saradha ponzi scam is back to haunt the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress government in the state barely a few months before the high-voltage West Bengal Assembly elections.

Filing a fresh appeal in the Supreme Court on Saturday, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) sought to interrogate ex-Kolkata Police top cop Rajiv Kumar in connection with the case who was the then police commissioner of Bidhannagar Commissionerate when the multi-crore chit fund scam was busted in 2013. He also headed the Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by the state government.

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In 2014, under the direction of the Supreme Court, the high-profile case was handed over to the CBI. A close confidant of Banerjee, Kumar was granted anticipatory bail from the Calcutta High Court on the matter which said that it was not an appropriate case for custodial interrogation. In an unprecedented standoff, when a CBI team had gone to question Kumar at his official residence in Kolkata, they were detained by the city police officers.

“The investigation is on. The agency will do everything that is required to nail the offenders. It’s a big scam,” a senior CBI official told IANS from Delhi.

Meanwhile, Saradha chit fund kingpin Sudipto Sen, who is now behind bars, wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee pointing out the fact that leaders who allegedly took “financial advantages” from him are now switching over to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Bengal. The list included names of some senior political leaders of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), BJP, Congress and the Trinamool Congress, the letter mentioned.

Sen also requests the CBI and the state police to take necessary action against them.

According to sources, the BJP would make attempts to pin down the TMC government in Bengal ahead of the crucial polls scheduled for 2021. Saradha scam is one of the key political issues for the saffron brigade to target Banerjee and her party on grounds of corruptions.

“The state government is trying to shield Kumar from the CBI interrogation as he knows many things. They have left no stone unturned so that the cat doesn’t come out of the bag,” a state BJP leader said.