With the CBI sword already hanging above their heads the ‘stung thirteen’ of the top Trinamool Congress leaders would now face the sting of Enforcement Directorate in the Narada case.
The ED has initiated suo moto action in the Narada sting operation case under the Prevention of Money laund-
ering Act and would follow it up with issuing summons to the 11 Trinamool MPs and Ministers apart from an IPS officer and a third person, sources said.
The ED action comes a week after the CBI registered FIRs against the accused persons following a Calcutta High Court order that asked the agency to register case. The CBI had registered a case under Prevention of Corruption Act.
A case under PMlA means the ED would now proceed against the accused persons and try to investigate sources of money that was given to the accused persons and its trail determining thereby how the cash was spent. The agency would also prepare a list of properties of the accused persons which would also include the properties acquired under benami transactions.
Declarations of assets given to the Election Commission from time to time would also be tallied with the ED’s sources and cases under Disproport-
ionate Asset could also be filed if required, sources said.
A video film shot in 2014 from a hidden camera showed at least 11 Trinamool Congress leaders — Sougato Roy, Kakoli Ghoshdastidar, Prasun Banerjee, Sultan Ahmed, Mukul Roy, Aparupa Poddar, alias Afreen Ali all MPs and Subhendu Adhikary, Subhendu Adhikary, Sovan Chatterjee, Madan Mitra, Subroto Mukherjee, Firhad Hakim, Iqbal Ahmed, all Ministers and MlAs apart from SNH Mirza a senior IPS officer — accepting wads of currency notes from a sting journalist who faked as a prospective investor allegedly to get his files moved and works facilitated.
The ED action comes a day after Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee lambasted the Central Government for threatening the Opposition leaders including those from Trinamool Congress with arrest by ‘unleashing CBI and ED.’ “The Centre was doing so because they feel threatened by the emergence of the Trinamool Congress which may one day go to influence political developments in Delhi,” Mamata said.
Reacting to her statements, BJP MP and its observer for Bengal Kailash Vijaybargiya said the Trinamool MPs who were corrupt would face the consequence. “They will not be spared,” he said adding “On Thursday when our national president Amit Shah was in Kolkata, the poor investors were complaining us about how they had trusted the Trinamool Congress leaders before investing their hard-earned money in the chit funds.”
Meanwhile in a related development, the Calcutta High Court on Friday directed the CBI to continue the probe in the Narada case against TMC MP Aparupa Poddar who had petitioned the court against the CBI action drawing FIR against her under Prevention of Corruption Act stating the case related to a period when she was not an MP and hence the Act did not apply on her.
Poddar’s counsel submitted before Justice Joymalya Bagchi that the CBI had not taken the MP’s version with regard to the alleged sting operation.