'Even I Have No Right': PM Modi Says ED And CBI Doing Their Jobs, Nobody Should Stop Them

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said that the Enforcement Directorate and Central Bureau of Investigation are just doing their jobs, which is to probe corruption, adding that nobody should be stopping them.

In an interview with Asianet Newsable, PM Modi responded to a question on the Opposition’s allegations that the Centre was misusing probe agencies and taking actions against their leaders to suppress their voices.

“It is ED and CBIs job to probe corruption. Would you for example stop a ticket-checker from checking tickets in trains? Let ED-CBI do it job,” he said. “Even I, as a Prime Minister, have no right to interfere in the ED’s work,” the PM added.

PM Modi said that questions should be raised if the ED and CBI don’t do their jobs, but here the Opposition is instead asking why the agencies are doing their jobs.

He took note that only three per cent cases registered by the ED are against political figures, asserting that the rest 97 per cent are against non-political persons. “Why is nobody talking about that,” he asked.

Before 2014, the Prime Minister noted, the ED registered 1,800 cases. However, since then, the anti-corruption agency has taken on “more than 5,000 cases and that itself shows ED’s efficiency”.

He further noted that the probe agency had conducted 7000 searches since 2014 in comparison to the mere 84 searches done earlier. “After 2014, properties worth Rs 1.25 lakh crore were seized,” the PM added.

Just last week, in another interview, the Prime Minister had lauded the role of the ED in tackling black money and corruption in the country over the past decade.

He had, then as well, refuted the charge of the BJP using central agencies to clamp the voices of the opposition leaders and asserted that 97 per cent cases of ED are against people who are not involved in politics.

An honest person has nothing to fear but those involved in corruption have “Paap ka dar” (fear of sin), the Prime Minister had said.

PM Modi had asserted that corruption has destroyed the country and it has to be tackled with full might.

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