West Bengal minister Firhad Hakim was taken to the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) office in Kolkata by Central security personnel this morning from his home in Chetla area. The minister in the newly formed cabinet of the Mamata Banerjee government alleged that he was being arrested in the Narada bribery case without proper sanction.
Another minister, Subrata Mukherjee, and two former ministers – MLA Madan Mitra and Sovon Chatterjee (the latter had joined the Bharatiya Janata Party but did not contest elections) – were also taken to the CBI office on Monday morning.
CBI officers have reportedly said that they had not been arrested, but taken to the office for questioning. The CBI is expected to submit chargesheet of the Narada case in court later in the day, and this usually involves bringing the persons to be named in the chargesheet for questioning before moving court seeking their arrest.
Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar had earlier sanctioned CBI investigations against Firhad Hakim, Subrata Mukherjee, Madan Mitra and Sovon Chatterjee. The case involves a sting operation in which Trinamool Congress leaders were purportedly seen on camera taking bribes. The operation was carried out in 2014 and released ahead of the 2016 assembly elections in West Bengal.
