Narada sting: Calcutta HC for probe against TMC leader

The Calcutta High Court directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to continue probe in the Narada case against Trinamool Congress' Aparupa Poddar.

The High Court was hearing Poddar's petition seeking quashing of CBI's FIR.

This comes after Enforcement Directorate (ED) registered a case against TMC leaders in the Narada sting case.

The Enforcement Directorate is likely to summon them soon for questioning.

Last week, the CBI registered a First Information Report in the Narada sting operation case against TMC leaders Madan Mitra, Mukul Roy, Saugata Roy and ten others.

The FIR also lists Sultan Ahmed, Iqbal Ahmed, Kakoli Ghosh, Prasun Banerjee, Suvendu Adhikari, Sovan Chatterjee, Subrata Mukherjee, Firhad Hakim, Aparupa Poddar and serving IPS officer Syed Hussain Meerza.

The Supreme Court had dismissed a petition by the West Bengal government challenging the Calcutta High Court's order.

West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Monday responded to the FIRs and called it a "political" game. She added that a name on an FIR did not prove guilt.

Earlier on March 17, the Calcutta High Court ordered a CBI probe into bribery allegations against top TMC parliamentarians and ministers.

Reacting to the court's order, Mamata said that she will appeal against the court order in a "higher judiciary".

Earlier in April 2016, the court had formed a three-member committee to probe the controversial tapes.

Narada News, led by its editor-in-chief Matthew Samuel, had earlier released three sets of videos of its sting operation, where top TMC leaders were allegedly seen accepting bribes from journalists posing as businessmen.

The ruling party had dismissed the tapes as 'doctored' and said the 'dirty tricks departments' of its political opponents were behind the 'smear' campaign.