PTI Kolkata/New Delhi
Two TMC ministers and an MLA along with a former party leader were on Monday arrested and chargesheeted by the CBI in Narada sting case, amid a high-voltage political drama in West Bengal that saw Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee sitting on a dharna at the probe agency’s office for six hours as her party supporters besieged the premises and indulged in violent protests in several parts of the state.
A special court later granted bail to the leaders – state ministers Firhad Hakim and Subrata Mukherjee, TMC MLA Madan Mitra, and former TMC leader and erstwhile mayor of Kolkata Sovan Chatterjee.
The CBI submitted its chargesheet against the four, besides IPS officer SMH Meerza who is already out on bail.
The Trinamool Congress accused the BJP-run Centre of using the CBI for political vendetta due to the saffron party’s recent loss in the assembly election, after the agency arrested the four leaders, who were allegedly caught on camera while taking bribes in the 2014 sting by a news channel.
The CBI office at Nizam Palace in Kolkata became the latest political battleground in the state as the Chief Minister arrived along with the kin of these politicians and demanded that she also be arrested while angry protestors gathered at the site, defying the ongoing coronavirus lockdown, and hurled stones and bricks at security personnel.
In New Delhi, the CBI spokesman R C Joshi said the agency “today arrested four then (former) ministers, the government of West Bengal in a case related to the Narada sting operation… It was alleged that then public servants were caught on camera while receiving illegal gratification from the sting operator”.
During a virtual hearing, where the agency submitted its chargesheet, special CBI judge Anupam Mukherjee granted bail to all four after hearing their lawyers and the counsel for the agency, lawyer Anindya Raut said.
On a day of fast-paced events, Banerjee sat on a dharna from 11 am to around 5 pm demanding the release of the TMC leaders.
The CBI officials said Banerjee’s actions are akin to interference in the probe handed over to the agency by the Calcutta High Court.
As the news spread, hundreds of Trinamool Congress party supporters gathered defying the ongoing lockdown, raised slogans against the BJP-led NDA government and clashed with security personnel.
The agitators also burnt tyres and blocked roads in several other parts of the state, including Hooghly, North 24 Parganas and South 24 Parganas districts.
Taking note of the widespread protests across the state, state Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar urged the Chief Minister to contain the “explosive situation” and asked her to weigh the “repercussions of such lawlessness and failure of constitutional mechanism”.
The CBI had approached the West Bengal Governor seeking sanction to prosecute Hakim, Mukherjee, Mitra and Chatterjee, the officials said, adding the sanction was received on May 7, following which the CBI finalised its chargesheet and moved to arrest them.
The case pertains to a purported sting operation conducted by Mathew Samuel of Narada TV news channel in 2014 in which TMC ministers, MPs and MLAs were purportedly seen receiving “illegal gratification” from representatives of a fictitious company for favours, the CBI has alleged.
The agency has alleged that Hakim was seen to have agreed to accept a bribe of Rs 5 lakh from the sting operator while Mitra and Mukherjee were caught on camera receiving Rs 5 lakh each.