Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sovon Chatterjee – who was one of the closest aides of Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee – has been called by the CBI in connection with the Narada probe.
He has been asked to report to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) office in Kolkata’s Salt Lake on September 11. On the same day, Mathew Samuel, the Narada TV journalist who conducted the sting operations has also been called to the CBI office. This has led to speculations that Samuel and Chatterjee may be interrogated together. West Bengal minister Subhendu Adhikary has been called by the CBI on the same day, so the possibility of all three being questioned together is not ruled out either. Their voice test is also likely to be conducted on the same day, sources said.
In the videos recorded by Samuel, several individuals – including Mukul Roy and Sovon Chatterjee who are now with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – and Trinamool Congress’ Firhad Hakim, Subrata Mukherjee, Sougata Roy, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Prasun Banerjee, IPS officer SMH Mirza and others, were seen purportedly discussing receiving cash from a journalist who posed as a person with business interests in Bengal. The videos were shown on Narada TV and have come to be known as the Narada scandal.
For the past few days, the CBI has been collecting voice samples from some of these persons who were said to be in the videos. Among the 13 persons who were alleged to have discussed and/or received cash, five persons are yet to submit their voice samples to the CBI. Sultan Ahmed — also alleged to be in the videos — passed away in 2017.
The CBI has sought permission of the Lok Sabha Speaker to prosecute Trinamool Congress MPs Sougata Roy, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar and Prasun Banerjee in connection with the Narada sting operations of 2016.
