Extortion case: Mathew quizzed

Mathew Samuel, CEO of Narada News, was questioned by officers of Munchipara police station for seven long hours in connection with the Munchipara case in which a former Central minister from Bihar received a call from Central Kolkata demanding extortion money of Rs 5 crore.

He has been summoned again on Friday at the police station for further interrogation.

Samuel went to the police station at around 1 pm on Thursday and he was there till 8 pm. Sources said that the investigating officers asked Samuel to narrate that how the youth Vikram Singh had got hold of the video footages in which his presence was also found.

It is learnt that after listening to Samuel's statement in this connection, the investigating officers felt that they have to place some more questions before him. So they have asked Samuel to turn up at the police station once again on Friday.

It may be recalled that the police had recovered a laptop in which the video footages were found during a raid in February after being contacted by the Bihar Police informing that the former Central minister D P Yadav had been receiving threat calls from Munchipara area.

It may be recalled that earlier police came to know that an employee, who was "terminated" from Samuel's company had managed to transfer some footages, related to an "undercover story" of 2015, from the office archive to the laptop.

Sources said that the investigating officers have also asked Samuel to narrate that when the video was shot.

Akhilesh Chauturvedi, the then deputy commissioner of Kolkata Police's Central Division had said that the police will be taking statement of all the persons who featured in the video footages and those involved in making it.