At a time when the CBI investigation into the Rose Valley and Sharada chit fund scams is continuously ending up at Trinamool Congress leaders’ doorstep the Bengal ruling party tended to get yet another jolt this time on the subjudice Narada sting case with the Calcutta High Court on Friday wondering whether there was a need to an independent investigation into the case.
There was enough evidence to show that the case needed a thorough investigation by some independent agency (read CBI) acting Chief Justice Nishita Matre said on Friday.
Narada sting case refers to the news that exploded in the face of the Trinamool Congress just before the Assembly elections last year. A series of video clippings shot from hidden camera showed a number of top Trinamool leaders including MPs and Cabinet Ministers accepting lakhs of rupees from a journalist who pretended as a prospective investor.
Among those who were caught in camera were Cabinet Ministers Firhad Hakim, Subroto Mukherjee, Subhendu Adhikary, Sovan Chatterjee, Madan Mitra, MPs Saugato Roy, Prasun Banerjee, Kakoli Ghoshdastidar, Aparupa Poddar and Sultan Ahmed, Iqbal Ahmed.
Refusing to purchase advocate and TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee’s argument that the video did not conclusively prove that the cash thus accepted was bribe for some favour and not donation to the party, Justice Matre said there was sufficient evidence that merited the case to be probed by an independent agency.