Narada case: Chapter isn't closed, no one is above law, says WB Assembly Speaker
Sep 22, 2021
Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], September 22 : After the Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials reached the State Assembly on Wednesday and left after submitting a letter, West Bengal Legislative Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee on Wednesday said that the chapter is still not closed and that law is above all.
This comes days after sources had informed that the West Bengal Assembly Speaker had on August 14 summoned Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and ED officials probing the Narada case.
Sources had said that the officials were asked to appear before the Assembly Speaker on September 22, seeking reasons for not taking his permission before initiating action against the elected representatives.
The Enforcement Directorate had named two sitting West Bengal ministers - Firhad Hakim and Subrata Mukherjee - in its chargesheet in the Narada sting operation case.
The ED had also named TMC MLA Madan Mitra and former mayor of Kolkata Sovan Chatterjee in its chargesheet in the matter.
The four were arrested on May 17 by the CBI which is investigating the Narada sting tape case on a 2017 order of the High Court.
On May 17 itself, the Special CBI court had granted them bail, however, the High Court had stayed the order, which remanded them to judicial custody. They were placed under house arrest on May 21 by the High Court, modifying its earlier order of stay on the bail.
Journalist Mathew Samuel of Narada News, a web portal, had conducted a Narada sting operation in 2014 wherein some people resembling TMC ministers, MPs and MLAs were seen receiving money from representatives of a fictitious company in lieu of favours.
The four arrested politicians were ministers in the Mamata Banerjee government at that time. Ahead of the 2016 Assembly elections in West Bengal, the sting operation was made public.
