New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday (May 17, 2021) arrested West Bengal cabinet ministers Firhad Hakim and Subrata Mukherjee along with Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLA Madan Mitra and ex-West Bengal minister Sovan Chatterjee in connection with the Narada case.
The probe company can even submit the chargesheet on Monday itself and produce them earlier than the jurisdictional court docket.
The CBI acknowledged that Firhad Hakim was seen to have agreed for the acceptance of bribe cash of Rs 5 lakhs, whereas, Subrata Mukherjee was seen to have accepted the unlawful gratification of Rs 5 lakhs. CBI claimed that Madan Mitra was additionally seen to have accepted the unlawful gratification of Rs 5 lakhs and Sovan Chatterjee of Rs 4 lakhs.
Besides them, the Prosecution Sanction has been acquired from the Ministry of Home Affairs concerning SMH Meerza, IPS (SPS), the then SP, for having seen to have acquired unlawful gratification of over Rs 5 lakhs. Meerza, notably, had already been arrested and is presently out on bail.
The arrest comes every week after West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar accorded sanction to prosecute the 4 former TMC ministers.
Governor accorded sanction for prosecution of Firhad Hakim, Subrata Mukherjee, Madan Mitra & Sovan Chatterjee being appointing authority of Ministers @MamataOfficial underneath Article 164 & thus competent authority
Media stories that sanction was for being MLA is wrong. pic.twitter.com/vqEg7Cv6OW
— Governor West Bengal Jagdeep Dhankhar (@jdhankhar1) May 9, 2021
The assertion stated that the sanction for prosecution of the 4 leaders was accorded by Dhankhar “after the CBI had made a request and made available entire documentation relevant to the case to the honourable governor and he invoked his powers under Article 163 and 164 of the Constitution, being the competent authority to accord such sanction”.
This is to be famous that the Narada sting tapes which had been made public earlier than the West Bengal 2016 meeting elections, claimed to have been shot in 2014. In the video, the ministers had been allegedly seen receiving cash from representatives of a fictitious firm in lieu of promised favours.
The Calcutta High Court had ordered a CBI probe into the sting operation in March 2017.