The sting videos, which were released by Mathew just before the 2016 Assembly elections in West Bengal, had created a political furore.
Trinamool Congress MLA and Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) Deputy Mayor Iqbal Ahmed, who was questioned by the CBI on Thursday in the Narada sting case, did not appear before the central investigation agency on Friday. Ahmed was hospitalised on Thursday night after being questioned by CBI officers for over seven hours.His lawyer, Daanish Haque, went to the CBI office on Friday and submitted a letter stating the TMC MLA will not be able to appear before them.
“He had a severe chest pain last night, and was admitted to Belle Vue Clinic at 2.30 am. Ahmed had suffered similar chest pain before, and underwent treatment. Yesterday, he was grilled for almost eight hours, which had an effect on his health. We are complying with the CBI, but a person who is physically not well should not be grilled for so long,” Haque told The Indian Express.
He further said Ahmed was not in stable condition, and is being monitored by doctors. Ahmed is the first accused to be summoned by the CBI as part of the probe into the Narada sting operation, the videos of which were released by Narada News CEO Mathew Samuel before the 2016 Assembly elections in West Bengal.
They showed top TMC leaders and one IPS officer taking money from Samuel in exchange for favours. Samuel had pretended to be the representative of a fictional company. He had claimed Iqbal Ahmed was the one who had introduced him to other senior Trinamool leaders. Ahmed, too, had allegedly taken money from Samuel for arranging such meetings.
