Narada Tapes: Kolkata court denies bail to SMH Meerza

New Delhi: A Special CBI court in Kolkata on Wednesday denied the bail plea posted by suspended IPS officer SMH Meerza, in connection with the Narada tapes scandal that surfaced in the run-up to the 2016 Assembly polls in the state.

Meerza was the CBI's first arrest in the case which came more than two years after registering an FIR in the case. The IPS officer's arrest in the case started to spell trouble for former TMC MP Mukul Roy, who would be implicated in the case, if Meerza were to confess.

While Meerza's lawyers argued in court that their client had nothing to do with the Narada case and that the CBI had not made any progress since his arrest, the central agency contested that further custodial remand could be required.

The court, subsequently, remanded Meerza to judicial custody till November 26.

However, according to the Narada tapes, covertly recorded by journalist Mathew Samuel, there were several instances when Roy is seen instructing Samuel, the sting operator, to hand over alleged bribe money to Meerza, who would collect it on his behalf.

According to a preliminary probe by the CBI, Roy had also told Samuel that he would not be accepting the cash himself and that the journalist was to hand over "five" to Meerza. Subsequently, a tape shows Meerza accepting Rs 5 lakh cash from Samuel.

After Meerza's arrest, he was confronted with Roy on two occassions - once at the CBI's offices and once at Roy's home in Kolkata, where officials said the scene from the tapes were recreated.

Interestingly, while the CBI has sought prosecution sanction for four TMC politicians in the case, it has not proceeded with any action against Roy since he jumped ship to the BJP within four months of the agency naming him in its FIR.