Tag: Bengal ministers arrest

  • West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee creating hurdles for CBI in its Narada sting operations probe: BJP

    Banerjee had rushed to the CBI office, shortly after state ministers Subrata Mukherjee and Firhad Hakim and TMC MLA Madan Mitra were arrested by the central agency.

  • West Bengal Governor gave nod on May 7 to CBI plea seeking sanction to prosecute three TMC MLAs

    By PTI
    KOLKATA/NEW DELHI: West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar gave his assent to CBI’s request seeking sanction for prosecution of four political leaders, including three from the ruling TMC, in connection with the Narada sting case on May 7, two days after Mamata Banerjee was sworn in as chief minister for the third time, officials said on Monday.

    They said the CBI approached the governor’s office seeking permission to prosecute Trinamool Congress MLAs Firhad Hakim, Subrata Mukherjee and Madan Mitra as well as former party leader Sovan Chatterjee in view of a 2004 Supreme Court judgement in which the top court had agreed that the governor could give sanction for prosecution.

    The officials said that the agency approached the governor’s office as the four were ministers in the previous government at time of the Narada sting case in which politicians were purportedly caught taking money on camera.

    They said that since the governor administers the oath of office and secrecy to the ministers, his or her office is the sanctioning authority.

    The officials said the CBI would also cite a judgement of the Supreme Court in a case related to former Madhya Pradesh ministers Rajender Kumar Singh and Bisahu Ram Yadav in which sanction to prosecution was given by the then governor.

    A complaint was made to the Lokayukta against them for having released 7.5 acres of land illegally and they had challenged their prosecution in the apex court.

    The top court in its judgement had said, “If, on these facts and circumstances, the governor cannot act in his own discretion, there would be a complete breakdown of the rule of law in as much as it would then be open for governments to refuse sanction in spite of overwhelming material showing that a prima facie case is made out.”

    “If, in cases where a prima facie case is clearly made out, sanction to prosecute high functionaries is refused or withheld, democracy itself will be at stake.It would then lead to a situation where people in power may break the law with impunity safe in the knowledge that they will not be prosecuted as the requisite sanction will not be granted,” he added.

    Hakim is the urban development minister in the present state government and Mukherjee holds the portfolio of panchayti raj and rural affairs. Mitra is an MLA and Chatterjee is an ex-MLA, who quit the TMC in 2019 to join the BJP but left the saffron party this year after he was not given a poll ticket.

    The officials said that all these leaders were arrested and chargesheeted in a crime that was allegedly committed in the previous tenure, and since all of them were ministers, the sanctioning authority was with the governor’s office.

    The sting operation was conducted by Mathew Samuel of Narada TV news channel in 2014 wherein people resembling TMC ministers, MPs and MLAs were allegedly seen receiving “illegal gratification” from representatives of a fictitious company in lieu of favours, the CBI has alleged.

    The agency has alleged that Hakim was purportedly seen to have agreed to accept a bribe of Rs 5 lakh from the sting operator, while Mitra and Mukherjee were caught on camera receiving Rs 5 lakh each. Chatterjee was purportedly seen receiving Rs 4 lakh from the sting operator, it added.

    The tapes were made public just before the 2016 assembly elections in West Bengal. The Calcutta High Court had ordered a CBI probe into the sting operation on April 16, 2017.

  • Total anarchy: Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar slams TMC agitation after arrests of ministers, MLA

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Expressing concern over agitation by TMC workers outside the CBI office here and elsewhere in West Bengal after the arrest of two ministers and others in the Narada sting case, Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Monday alleged that there is “total lawlessness and anarchy” in the state and the police and administration are in “silence” mode.

    The governor urged Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to contain the “explosive situation” and asked her to weigh the “repercussions of such lawlessness and failure of constitutional mechanism”. He also accused the state administration of allowing the “situation to drift” and “not taking any tangible action” against the agitators.

    Message @MamataOfficial “Total lawlessness & anarchy. Police and administration in silence mode. Hope you realize repercussions of such lawlessness and failure of constitutional mechanism.Time to reflect and contain this explosive situation that is worsening minute by minute.”
    — Governor West Bengal Jagdeep Dhankhar (@jdhankhar1) May 17, 2021

    Taking to Twitter, Dhankhar said, “Message @MamataOfficial Total lawlessness & anarchy. Police and administration in silence mode. Hope you realize repercussions of such lawlessness and failure of constitutional mechanism. Time to reflect and contain this explosive situation that is worsening minute by minute.”

    Hundreds of TMC supporters launched a protest outside the CBI office here and threw water bottles and stones at the central force personnel who barricaded the CGO Complex in Nizam Palace where the central agency’s office is located.

    Holding party flags and shouting slogans against Dhankhar, a group of TMC activists demonstrated outside the two gates of Raj Bhavan here. “Invited attention @MamataOfficial on channels and in public domain I notice arson and pelting of stones at CBI office. Pathetic that Kolkata Police and West Bengal Police are just onlookers. Appeal to you to act and restore law and order,” the governor said.

    ALSO READ| Follow lockdown norms, will fight battle legally: TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee to protesting workers

    He asked the government and the state police to take all steps to maintain law and order. “Concerned at alarming situation. Call upon @MamataOfficial to follow constitutional norms & rule of law. Sad- situation is being allowed to drift with no tangible action by authorities,” Dhankhar said on the microblogging site.

    The central agency on Monday morning arrested state ministers Firhad Hakim, Subrata Mukherjee, TMC MLA Madan Mitra as well as former minister Sovan Chatterjee in connection with the Narada sting case in which politicians were purportedly caught taking money on camera.

    Officials said that the action comes as the central probe agency is likely to file its charge sheet in the case. Dhankhar had recently granted sanction to prosecute all the four leaders, following which the CBI finalised its charge sheet and moved to arrest them.

    The sting operation was purportedly conducted by Mathew Samuel of Narada TV news channel in 2014 wherein some people resembling TMC ministers, MPs and MLAs were allegedly seen receiving money from representatives of a fictitious company in lieu of favours.

    ALSO READ| TMC workers protest outside CBI’s Kolkata office after arrest of ministers, MLA

    The tapes were made public just before the 2016 assembly elections in West Bengal. The Calcutta High Court had ordered a CBI probe into the sting operation in March, 2017.

  • Follow lockdown norms, will fight battle legally: TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee to protesting workers

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Senior Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee on Monday urged party supporters to follow the law and refrain from violating the lockdown norms as they demonstrated in various parts of West Bengal against the arrest of two state ministers and an MLA.

    Abhishek, a Lok Sabha MP who is the nephew of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, said his party will fight the battle legally as it has utmost faith in the judiciary. “I urge everyone to abide by the law and refrain from any activity that violates lockdown norms for the sake of the larger interest of Bengal and its people. We have utmost faith in the judiciary and the battle will be fought legally,” he tweeted.

    I urge everyone to abide by the law & refrain from any activity that violates lockdown norms for the sake of the larger interest of Bengal and its people.We have utmost faith in the judiciary & the battle will be fought legally.
    — Abhishek Banerjee (@abhishekaitc) May 17, 2021

    Hundreds of TMC supporters gathered outside the CBI office at Nizam Palace in Kolkata and protested against the arrest of senior ministers Firhad Hakim and Subrata Mukherjee, and TMC MLA Madan Mitra in connection with the Narada sting operation case.

    The CBI also arrested former Kolkata mayor Sovan Chatterjee. At one point, the protest also turned violent with TMC supporters pelting stones and trying to breach the police barricade at the Nizam Palace complex’s main entrance.

    Protests were also held in other places in the city, including outside Raj Bhavan, and the districts with TMC workers blocking roads by burning tyres. West Bengal is at present under complete lockdown that began on Sunday in the wake of the rising COVID-19 cases.