Narada sting case: ED questions TMC MP, his personal assistant

Trinamool Congress MP Prasun Banerjee and his personal assistant (PA) were on Monday questioned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection to its probe into the Narada sting tapes 0case.

As per sources, Banerjee, who was initially nervous during the interrogation, accepted that he had taken money from Narada News CEO Mathew Samuel, who had shot the video, but said that it was taken as election fund. Sources said that prima facie ED has found Banerjee’s claims to be true after verification as the account details show that the money was indeed deposited in election fund account.

Both Banerjee and his PA Indranil Basu reached the ED office at CGO Complex at around 9.30 am. The MP was interrogated till 6.30 pm. Basu was called for interrogation after the MP said that he had handed over the money taken from Samuel to him, as per sources. Basu said that he was given Rs 4 lakh by Banerjee, which he had deposited in the election fund account, they added.

Sources also said that prima facie the ED has verified the claims of Trinamool MP Saugata Roy and state Transport minister Suvendhu Adhikari, both accused in the case, and found them to be true. Both the leaders had accepted taking cash from Samuel as election fund. Account details show that they had deposited the money as election fund within few days of receiving it, they said.

As per sources, in the next phase of investigation, ED would focus on those leaders who had denied receiving any money from Samuel.

ED is soon going to interrogate former Trinamool leader Mukul Roy, who has recently joined the BJP. Roy has been asked to appear for questioning on November 10. He had appeared for questioning before the CBI in September in connection to the case. While the CBI is investigating the case, ED is probing the money trail.

The Narada sting tapes were released just before the 2016 Assembly elections. Several Trinamool leaders and an IPS officer were purportedly seen accepting money from Samuel, who posed as a businessman interested in making some investments in the state.

The ED and the CBI had initiated cases against several TMC MLAs and MPs under IPC sections and Prevention of Corruption Act after directives from the Calcutta High Court.