Guwahati, Sep 17 : Assam Minister Pijush Hazarika on Tuesday alleged that some Congress leaders may have links with the accused in the multi-crore online trading scam.

He asserted that the state government has taken a tough stand to deal with the scam and nobody will be spared irrespective of their political affiliation. The Minister claimed that no BJP leader was involved in this scam.

He said, "Congress party leaders might have their association with the fraudsters that will be unearthed in the CBI inquiry."

Hazarika told IANS, 'The stand of the government is very clear. We have been batting for an impartial inquiry. That is why within 15 days of this scam surfacing, the state government has requested the CBI to take over the case and conduct a thorough investigation. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Income Tax (IT) department have been already involved along with the Special Task Force (STF) of Assam Police.'

According to him, this is a rare instance where the CBI was called so rapidly by any state government to investigate a financial scam.

'We believe that the CBI does the best investigation in the country and every detail related to the online trading scam will be unearthed in their inquiry. I have spoken to colleagues in the party and everybody assured me that no BJP leader was involved in this fraud. Moreover, if the CBI finds any of our party leader's hand in it, he or she will get proper punishment as per the law of the land,' the minister added.

Hazarika argued that there is a high possibility that some of the Congress party functionaries were related to the trading scamsters and the CBI is set to catch them.

To recall, an online trading scam amounting to Rs 2,200 crore was busted in Assam. The kingpin of this fraud, Bishal Phukan was arrested from his Dibrugarh residence.

The Assamese actress, Sumi Borah came under the scanner of police after Phukan's arrest. Police claimed that Bishal Phukan used Borah's network in the Assamese movie industries to get clients for online trading on the pretext of giving them higher returns.

Borah and her husband were on the run following Phukan's arrest and finally, surrendered before the police in the previous week.

/IANS