CBI summons Narada video editor in sting operation case

New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation has summoned the video editor of Narada News for questioning in connection with the Narada sting operation case, where several senior politicians of the ruling party in West Bengal were allegedly implicated.

The CBI has asked Meetesh Dixit to appear before its officials for questioning on September 9 in connection with the case. The central probe agency had earlier in the case sought sanction to prosecute Prasun Banerjee, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar and Saugata Roy - all sitting members of the 17th Lok Sabha - and former TMC MP Suvendu Adhikary. Interestingly, no prosecution sanction has been sought for Mukul Roy, who jumped ship to the ruling BJP, within four months of CBI registering its FIR.

This despite the CBI having established that Mukul Roy had demanded money and indicated that an IPS officer, SMH Meerza would accept it on his behalf. In fact, the tapes also show Meerza accepting cash amounts on behalf of Mukul Roy. All four of these senior Trinamool Congress members for whom the CBI has sought prosecution sanction have been questioned by the CBI in the Narada case, which came up after video footage was released, purportedly showing several senior members of the ruling party in West Bengal demanding and accepting cash bribes.

However, all four have consistently denied that the money they were shown accepting was bribe amount, insisting to the probe agency that Matthew Samuel, the sting operator had pretended to donate to their election campaign before the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

Samuel, the owner and editor of Narada News, where the tapes were first released, has also been questioned by the agency in the case. Meanwhile, the CBI has also summoned 11 people accused in the Narada case to appear before agency officials in Kolkata, so their voice samples can be collected, as mandated by the Supreme Court of India. This list of 11 includes ex-TMC MLA Sovan Chatterjee, TMC MP Aparupa Poddar, former TMC MP Sultan Ahmed and other politicians accused in the case, except of course senior BJP leader Mukul Roy, formerly of the Trinamool Congress.