CPI(M) ex-CM informed BJP govt of PWD scam in Tripura: Ratan Lal Nath

Tripura Law Minister Ratan Lal Nath on Tuesday claimed that former CPI(M) chief minister Manik Sarkar had secretly informed the present BJP-IPFT government of the Rs 638.40 crore PWD scam in connection of which former minister Badal Chowdhury was arrested recently.

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'Manik Sarkar had secretly informed the state'

The CPI(M) refused to comment on the assertion. "I have information that former chief minister Manik Sarkar had secretly informed the present state administration about Rs 638 crore 40 lakh scam of the Left regime. He also said the government could investigate the matter if it likes," Nath told a press conference here.

However, he said he would not disclose the source of his information. Chairman of the Left Front Committee and former CPI(M) state secretary Bijan Dhar said, "I will not comment on the matter."

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Nath said the erstwhile CPI(M)-led government of Tripura had sought to construct 28 buildings, 46 bridges and 60 roads in 2008-09, but a portion of those works have still not been completed.

The scam took place as Chowdhury flouted a number of rules to create some packages by clubbing several of those projects and awarded them to some specific contractors, the law minister alleged.

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Chowdhury, a CPI(M) central committee member who was the PWD minister during the Left Front regime, was arrested on October 21 from a hospital where he was admitted. The CPI(M) Politburo last week claimed that Chowdhury was apprehended on false charges and said the party would fight the case against him both legally and politically. Former PWD engineer-in-chief Sunil Bhowmik was taken into custody while an arrest warrant was issued against former chief secretary Yashpal Singh in connection with the scam. An FIR was lodged by the Crime Investigation Department with the West Agartala police station on October 13 in which the agency accused Chowdhury, Bhowmik and Singh of being involved in a financial scam of over Rs 600 crore in PWD projects between 2008 and 2009. The three have been charged with fraud, corruption, criminal breach of trust and suppression of evidence. 

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