Thiruvananthapuram, April 6 (IANS): A day after the Income Tax Department froze the bank account of the Thrissur district CPI-M, Kerala CPI-M Secretary M.V. Govindan on Saturday said that the Income Tax Department is behaving like a "mafia".

“The IT Department and other agencies are behaving like a mafia. We will not be afraid of these agencies. We will deal with it legally,” Govindan said.

The IT Department said that the account had a balance of around Rs five crore while a sum of Rs one crore was withdrawn early this month.

The IT Department has also asked for the details of the source of funds.

The action by the IT department came two days after Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan claimed that the party always ensures that there is transparency in all its activities and pointed out that the party does not have any secret bank accounts, as they do not accept black money.

M.M. Varghese, the Trissur CPI-M District Secretary said that the Centre is using agencies to put pressure on political opponents.

“We do not have anything to fear as all know that the agencies are trying to scare us ahead of the Lok Sabha polls,” Varghese said.

On Friday, Varghese was also interrogated by the ED for several hours and has been asked to report before the agency again on Monday.