There was more embarrassment for the Trinamool Congress with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday subjecting one of its senior most leaders and heavyweight State Minister Subroto Mukherjee to intensive grilling in the Narada pay off case.
Mukherjee, who was purportedly seen accepting cash in a sting video from a journalist posing as a prospective investor in Bengal was earlier questioned for more than three hours by the Enforcement Directorate.
When asked as to the contents of the questions he faced Mukherjee said he had cooperated with his interrogators adding, “I told exactly what I had told the ED on earlier occasion.” Mukherjee had said that he had taken Rs 3 lakh and not Rs 5 lakh as was being circulated adding “the remaining Rs 2 lakh was due and the journalist should not pay that to me.”
He said he had taken the money before the elections for electoral expenses.
The Narada video tape aired in April-May 2016 showed at least a dozen Trinamool Congress leaders including MPs and Ministers, Kolkata Mayor and an IPS officer accepting wads of currency notes from the sting journalist purportedly in lieu of promised favour.
After a long legal battle the Calcutta High Court ordered a CBI and ED investigation into the case.