Kolkata: The CBI is all set to file a charge sheet in the Narada sting operation case of 2016, in which a number of Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders are seen allegedly accepting bribes. The first charge sheet is expected to name three senior Trinamool MPs and a former parliamentarian of the ruling party.
The CBI had appealed to the Lok Sabha Speaker in April seeking approval to file the charge sheet against MPs Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Sougata Roy and Prasun Banerjee and former MP Subhendu Adhikari, who is now a minister in the West Bengal government.
The investigating agency will get the necessary permission soon, ThePrint has learnt. Sources in the CBI said that it has sufficient evidence against the four and the first charge sheet in the case will be filed as soon as the Lok Sabha Speaker gives his approval.
A number of other TMC leaders are also under scanner in the Narada scam in which video clips, made public before the 2016 assembly elections, allegedly showed then party MPs Sultan Ahmed, Mukul Roy (now with BJP), cabinet ministers Subrata Mukherjee, Firhad Hakim, Kolkata mayor Sovan Chatterjee and senior leader Madan Mitra accepting bribes. This is apart from the four who are set to be named in the charge sheet.
The charge sheet, however, will not name Roy, an accused in the case who has since joined the BJP.
A senior CBI official said Roy’s name is not on the list as he is not seen accepting money in the video clips.
“Mukul Roy is being probed. He has been grilled several times and might be summoned again,” the CBI official said. “He was seen as instructing the person to give his share of money to an IPS officer. We are probing all angles.”
The CBI action could spell fresh trouble for the Trinamool and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is already losing ground to the BJP in the state. The party has also been struggling with corruption charges as at least four party MPs and a minister were arrested and later granted bail in the chit fund scam.
ThePrint tried to contact all four expected to be named in the charge sheet. While one refused to comment, two could not be reached. One of the accused MPs, who did not wish to be named, said, “This is a sub-judice case. The CBI cannot take any coercive action now.
“Moreover, this is a politically motivated case. The phone in which the video was shot was also not an original iPhone,” he said. “A businessman-turned-politician is accused of funding this sting operation to defame the Trinamool Congress. So, the case has a lot of contradictions.”
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The Narada scam
A year after the scam broke, the Calcutta High Court in March 2017 directed the CBI to investigate the case. The CBI registered an FIR in the case and named 13 accused of whom nine are top Trinamool leaders apart from a senior IPS officer.
Of the nine, six were MPs then and three were ministers. Of the six MPs, Sultan Ahmed died of cardiac arrest in September 2017, Roy resigned in October and joined the BJP in November 2017. Of the three ministers, Sovan Chatterjee resigned from the Trinamool in 2018. He joined the BJP this month.
The CBI official quoted above said that after the MPs, the agency will seek permission to name the ministers involved.
“For filing the charge sheet against the ministers, we will need sanction from the Governor as it is a graft case under Prevention of Corruption Act, 2018,” the official said. “The Governor can only be advised by the council of ministers in this regard. The state government is not likely to approve this now for its political compulsion, but we will work according to the law.”
The case has been on for two years and is likely to reach a logical conclusion soon, another senior official of the agency said.
Experts, however, feel that the case could have been closed a year ago.
“This case should not have taken so long to be probed,” said Upen Biswas, a former CBI joint director. “In the last year, we are finally seeing progress in all cases. The agencies were slack in their approach.”
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Now Mukul,Shohan are good boy.BJP want power by terrorising and thereafter they will rule the state.You have to chant Ram nam only.No Durgapur ,kali puja.Ram will be imposed forcefully..They didn’t do any thing for Bengals development.Only Hindu/Muslim.Even they say that if you don’t vote BJP,you are not a Hindu.
All these were under impression that Congress will for ever rule and Mamata will protect them whatever happens.They have forgotten there exists some law they have to abide by.This applies to almost every one who made money disregarding all laws. Now face the law.