Bring raw footage of sting video by April 5: HC directs Narada

The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday directed Narada News to file an affidavit declaring that the video of the sting operation in which Trinamool Congress leaders were filmed is genuine and not a doctored one.

The Bench has also directed the agency to produce the raw video along with other details before the Court by April 5.

The division Bench of the Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court Manjula Chellur and Justice Arijit Banerjee on Tuesday heard the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) that was filed in connection with the sting operation a week ago.

The other detail that the agency has to submit before the Court includes the antecedents of the company and details of its owner. The date when the company was registered, details of its shareholders and people who are party to it has to be mentioned in the affidavit. Moreover, the source of the fund to run the company also has to be disclosed.

The Bench has also directed the agency to mention the date from when the sting operation had begun before 2014 and the places where the videos were shot. Above all, the court has asked to deposit the raw video or clippings of the sting operation and the devices which were used to shoot the video.

The affidavit has to be filed by April 22 and the next hearing in this connection will be held on April 8.

Brushing aside the allegation of those who had filed the PIL, Kalyan Banerjee, the counsel of some of the Trinamool Congress leaders whose names had cropped up, submitted before the Court that none of the leaders had taken money and the video footage is a doctored one.

He had also objected when lawyer Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya submitted that the Trinamool Congress leaders had taken bribe. Banerjee submitted that there is a difference between bribe and donation. The PIL is politically motivated as the videos have been disclosed just ahead of the Assembly elections in the state though it was shot ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in 2014. He pleaded before the Court not to give any order before the elections as it may give advantage to the Oppositions.