CBI Seeks Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla’s Sanction To Prosecute 3 MPs In Narada Case: Report

The CBI has approached Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla seeking sanction to prosecute three sitting Trinamool Congress MPs and a former parliamentarian of the party in the Narada sting operation case, officials said on Thursday. The agency sought clearance to prosecute Mamata Banerjee-led TMC MPs Saugata Roy, Kakoli Ghosh and Prasun Banerjee.

Suvendu Adhikari, 48, is a former MP from Tamluk Lok Sabha constituency in West Bengal and is now the transport minister in the state government. The 73-year old Roy is an MP from Dum Dum, while Ghosh (59) represents the Barasat constituency. Prasun Banerjee (64) is an MP from Howrah.

The officials said the agency has requested the speaker to let it prosecute the four MPs. If the sanction is accorded, the four leaders may be named by the agency in its charge sheet in the case, sources said.

The Narada sting case pertains to some TMC politicians and West Bengal bureaucrats who were allegedly caught on tape accepting money from a journalist posing as a representative of a private company, officials said.

On Wednesday, BJP leader Mukul Roy and Trinamool Congress MP K D Singh were examined by the CBI in connection with Narada sting case in which some TMC politicians and bureaucrats were allegedly caught on tape accepting money from a journalist posing as a representative of a private company, officials said Wednesday.

Roy, who was a close confidant of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee before he broke ranks with the Trinamool Congress (TMC), was called at the agency headquarters where a team of officials from Kolkata had come to examine him, they said.

He had joined the BJP months after being named as an accused in the case by the CBI on April 16, 2017. The team also questioned Trinamool Congress’ Rajya Sabha member K D Singh in connection with the case, officials said. The CBI suspects that Singh had investments in an investigation magazine which had commissioned the sting operation, they said.

The sting was later broadcast on various channels by Narada news editor Mathew Samuel who had provided the recordings to the CBI purportedly showing alleged payments received by politicians and senior bureaucrats of West Bengal Government.

The agency confronted Samuel and Singh on alleged payments to the politicians who were caught on camera, they said.

The CBI had booked 12 top TMC leaders, including MPs and West Bengal ministers, and an IPS officer in connection with the case.

In its FIR, the agency has said suspect public servants have been identified 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 handover the money to someone else on their behalf.

An FIR was lodged for alleged criminal conspiracy under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act dealing with bribery and criminal misconduct.

The maximum sentence for these crimes ranges from five to seven years of imprisonment.