Narada sting case: ED names Bengal ministers, TMC MLA in chargesheet

The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday named Bengal ministers Firhad Hakim, Subrata Mukherjee, Trinamool Congress MLA Madan Mitra and former Kolkata mayor Sovan Chatterjee in its chargesheet submitted before a special court in the Narada sting operation case.

The court ordered issuance of summons to the leaders and the appearance of the accused on November 16.

Besides the politicians, the court also took cognisance against suspended IPS officer SMH Mirza.

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The court directed that the summonses to Mukherjee, Hakim and Mitra be served through the office of the West Bengal assembly speaker as the trio are legislators. Summonses to the other two would be served directly at their addresses, the court said.

Earlier this year, the CBI had arrested Hakim, Mukherjee, Mitra and Chatterjee in the bribery case that had created a furore months before the 2016 Assembly election. All the four had been granted bail days later.

Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee had called the arrests political vendetta against the astounding win in the just-concluded Assembly election. She had spent hours hours at the CBI office to protest against the agency's move.

The sting operation was conducted by Narada news founder Mathew Samuel for over two years in West Bengal. Samuel had formed a fictitious company and approached several TMC ministers, MPs and leaders for favours. Many of them were shown accepting money in TV footages.