The Kolkata Police on Thursday subjected senior journalist Mathew Samuels — said to be a whistle-blower in the Narada pay-off case — to a four-hour grilling in what he called a “concocted” complaint of extortion lodged by a former Bihar MP at a time when the CBI questioned a TMC MlA and a Narada accused Iqbal Ahmed.
Grilling of Samuel, who is also the CEO of Narada News portal, took place in tandem with a simultaneous questioning of Ahmed by the CBI.
While Samuels was questioned at Muchipara Police Station, Ahmed the younger brother of former Union Minister Sultan Ahmed was grilled at Nizam Palace for seven hours for his alleged involvement in the Narada case that exposed at least a dozen TMC leader, including Ministers and MPs, allegedly taking cash for favour.
While both the persons were asked by their respective grillers to appear before them again on Friday, CBI sources said thorough questioning of Ahmed had revealed the names of some more TMC leaders who had a role to play in the Narada case.
Elsewhere, reacting to his being questioned by the Kolkata Police, Samuels said “They are making a baseless charge to victimise me because I exposed some corrupt people. It is so ridiculous that a person called Vikram Singh has complained to police about some extortion case. That person is traceless but now the police is trying to trace me out.”
It was claimed in an FIR that the ex-MP was asked to pay Rs5 crore failing which a sting footage would be leaked to the media. The call was allegedly made from a hotel in Muchipara in Kolkata.
Curiously, the extortion case appeared long after the Narada expose.