The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) recently sought prosecution sanction from the Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla against three sitting Trinamool Congress MPs and a former parliamentarian of the party, in connection with the Narada sting operation case, sources told The Quint on Thursday, 29 August.
Those against whom the sanction has been sought include Sougata Roy, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Prasun Banerje and Subhendu Adhikari, according to an NDTV report.
Forty-eight-year-old Adhikari is a former MP from Tamluk Lok Sabha constituency in West Bengal and the current transport minister in the state government.
Roy, 73, is an MP from Dum Dum, while Ghosh, 59, represents the Barasat constituency. Prasun Banerjee, 64, is an MP from Howrah.
A CBI official told NDTV that upon receiving sanction, the agency “will file the first charge sheet in the case, naming the above four as accused.”
All four leaders were named as the accused in the CBI FIR filed on 16 April 2017 after nearly a month-long preliminary enquiry on the orders of Calcutta High Court, PTI reported.
In its FIR, the CBI has alleged that the sting operation shows Roy, Ghosh and Adhikari accepting Rs 5 lakh each from the person posing as representative while Banerjee can be seen receiving Rs 4 lakh for helping a business venture.
CBI Examines TMC’s KD Singh, BJP Leader Mukul Roy & Others
On Wednesday, the CBI cross-examined TMC MP KD Singh, Narada News Managing Director Mathew Samuel and others, regarding the sting operation which showed about a dozen TMC leaders, including MPs and ministers in Bengal allegedly accepting bribes.
Singh deposed at the CBI headquarters in New Delhi, following summons for his cross-examination in the case, along with the ‘whistle blower’ Samuel, IANS reported.
Earlier, the CBI had questioned Samuel along with Singh’s personal secretary.
Later, former TMC leader Mukul Roy joined the probe as well. Roy reportedly left the CBI headquarters two hours later, in the evening.
While leaving the headquarters, Roy, who joined the BJP in November 2017, told IANS,
“Yes, I went to the CBI office. The CBI did not call me. They didn’t ask me anything about Narada sting.”
Roy, the former aide of West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC Chief Mamata Banerjee, fell out with her in 2015, when his name cropped up in the Saradha scam as well as the Narada sting operation. After he was suspended from the party for six years, Roy quit the TMC in September 2017.
TMC MP Singh didn’t appear before the CBI on July 29 citing personal reasons, IANS reported, quoting sources.
The CBI had also summoned TMC MP Aparupa Poddar in connection with the Narada sting operation probe, sources told IANS.
BACKGROUND OF THE CASE
In 2016, Samuel, editor and managing director of Narada News portal, just before the West Bengal Assembly elections, had broadcast a sting video in which a number of TMC leaders were allegedly seen taking money on camera.
The purported video footage of the sting operation surfaced before the 2016 Assembly polls.
The CBI lodged an FIR in April 2017 following a court order, naming 12 top TMC leaders, including MPs and West Bengal ministers, and an IPS officer, as per PTI.
In its FIR, the agency said suspected public servants who were shown to have either accepted money in cash given by Samuel posing as a representative of a Chennai-based company or asked him to hand over the money to someone else on their behalf were identified.
An FIR was lodged for alleged criminal conspiracy under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act which deals with bribery and criminal misconduct.
The purported footage was also sent for a forensic examination.
The Enforcement Directorate is also probing the money trail in the case.
(With inputs from NDTV, PTI and IANS)
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