In a huge judicial setback to the Mamata Banerjee Government, the Calcutta High Court on Friday ordered a CBI investigation into the Narada sting operation, in which a galaxy of senior TMC leaders, right from Ministers to MPs and MlAs were seen taking money.
The West Bengal Chief Minister immediately said the Government would challenge the order before the Supreme Court. The verdict not only directed the CBI to collect the relevant documents in 24 hours but also asked the State to suspend IPS officer SMH Mirza who was allegedly seen acting as a go-between in one of the tapes and accepting wads of currency.
Showing little faith in the State police that acted as a “puppet” in the hands of the political establishment, the Division Bench of acting Chief Justice Nishita Mahtre and Justice Tapabrata Chakrabarty asked the CBI to complete its preliminary investigation in 72 hours, prompting Mamata to scream “political conspiracy.” Mamata said the TMC “will fight the order both politically and legally.”
She termed the court order to stop the Kolkata Police investigation into the matter as “unfortunate”. Making an apparently contemptuous statement she wondered, “How is it that BJP leaders were aware of what was going to come before the order was passed.”
The State BJP leadership promptly hit back, as did the left Opposition that took out a huge procession demanding arrest of the tainted leaders, threatening to “taking the Chief Minister’s words very seriously and considering contempt proceedings against her.”
The court directed the CBI to file an FIR if need be after the preliminary investigation as there was a demand in the society at large for a proper investigation into the case. The court termed the matter as cognizable offence as MPs, Ministers and top bureaucrats were involved in it.
Calling the State police a puppet of sorts the judges wondered what prevented the police from taking action in the case when the said tapes examined by the Chandigarh-based Central Forensic Science laboratory, were declared “un-tampered.”
The Narada sting operation case hogged the limelight when video footages aired for the first time showed senior Trinamool leaders accepting bribe from a sting journalist posing as a prospective investor in the State. The heavyweight politicians involved were Subroto Mukherjee, Firhad Hakim (Ministers) and MPs Subhendu Adhikary (now Minister), A Poddar, Kakoli Ghoshdastidar, Sultan Ahmed, Prasun Banerjee, Saugato Roy and Kolkata Mayor (now Minister) Sovan Chatterjee.