The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested on Monday three legislators of West Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC), including ministers Firhad Hakim and Subrata Mukherjee, sources in the agency said, in a dramatic development in a five-year-old corruption case.
CBI’s action in what is known as the Narada sting operation case stirred a political controversy. The TMC accused the agency of working under the command of the Centre’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), even as the latter said there was no political link to the arrests.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee reached Hakim’s house in a show of solidarity, while a battery of TMC leaders and lawyers rushed to CBI’s Nizam Palace, where the leaders were first taken for questioning and then arrested.
Apart from Hakim and Mukherjee, TMC legislator Madan Mitra and former Kolkata mayor Sovan Chatterjee, who crossed over to the BJP and then quit the party, were arrested
Around 8am, high drama unfolded outside Hakim residence in south Kolkata’s Chetla, as a team of CBI officers reached there in the middle of protests by TMC supporters. After 20 minutes of questioning, he was taken to Nizam Palace.
Initially, CBI denied arresting him and maintained he was being questioned, but Hakim said the agency had taken him in custody.
“I was arrested by CBI in connection with the Narada sting operation case. I was arrested without any prior notice. I will challenge my arrest in court,” Hakim, West Bengal’s urban development and municipal affairs minister, said.
Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee said the arrest was illegal, as CBI did not take his permission.
The sting operation was conducted by Narada news founder Mathew Samuel for over two years in West Bengal. Ahead of the 2016 assembly elections, Narada news released videos showing 13 TMC ministers and leaders accepting bribes in return of favours, or misusing official positions.
The development caused a major embarrassment for chief minister Mamata Banerjee, as it came at a time when the CM and her party were already under criticism for the Saradha chit fund scam.
As part of the operation, Samuel formed a fictitious company and approached several TMC ministers, asking them for favours in return for money.
Those who were seen in the Narada sting tapes are: Firhad Hakim, Mukul Roy (now with the BJP), Saugata Roy, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Sultan Ahmed, Subrata Mukherjee, Suvendu Adhikari (now with the BJP), Sovan Chatterjee (who joined the BJP and then quit), Aparupa Poddar, Madan Mitra, Iqbal Ahmed, Prasun Banerjee and HMS Mirza.
On March 17, 2017, the Calcutta high court ordered that a preliminary probe will be conducted by CBI. The court also directed CBI to register an FIR (first information report) against those who were involved in the case, if required.
On April 17, CBI filed charge sheet against the 13 leaders and other TMC functionaries. All of them were booked under Section 120 B of IPC (criminal conspiracy), Section 13 (2), 13 (1D) and Section 7 of Prevention of Corruption Act
A few days ago, West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankar accorded prosecution sanction to CBI against Hakim, Mitra and Mukherjee.
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