No free pass: AP bars CBI's entry, West Bengal follows

Refusing to grant permission to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to enter and investigate in the state, the Andhra Pradesh government withdrew its earlier General Consent order and issued fresh no-entry orders to restrict the entry of CBI officials.

Within hours after supporting Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s move, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also withdrew consent to the central agency for conducting investigations in the state.

As per the Delhi Police Act, the CBI has no jurisdiction over other states. It was getting an extension from AP to probe cases from time to time.

The extraordinary move by the Naidu government comes after a series of CBI raids in the state after the ruling TDP came out of the BJP fold. The government said the CBI was being used by the Modi government for political vendetta. It was alleged that the BJP has hatched 'Operation Garuda' to dethrone Naidu using a central agency as a pawn.

“The erstwhile Left Front government issued a general consent to the CBI in the 1980s. In today’s (Friday) meeting, the government decided to withdraw that,” Bengal government sources told DH.