News Analysis India

Tag: Firhad Hakim

  • Big leader from BJP will join TMC in a few days, says Bengal Minister Firhad Hakim

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: Senior Trinamool Congress leader Firhad Hakim Thursday said a “big leader from BJP” is set to join TMC in a few days and claimed that the saffron party will disintegrate in the state.

    Hakim, who is on the campaign trail for TMC supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for the September 30 Bhabanipur by-poll, said the party is not inducing BJP leaders indiscriminately into its fold.

    Trinamool Congress is checking the antecedents, track record and image of each BJP leader who has made overtures to TMC leaders and is deciding on his/her appeal after due deliberation, Hakim, who is also a senior minister in Banerjee’s cabinet, said.

    The state has witnessed several switch overs to TMC from BJP since the April-May state poll in which it stormed back to power under Banerjee.

    “The process of returning has only started,” was Hakim’s cryptic reply when he was asked by reporters whether there would be more cross overs to TMC after the recent one by former union minister Babul Supriyo and BJP national vice-president Mukul Roy earlier.

    “Wait for a few more days. A big time BJP leader is all set to join our party. BJP will disintegrate in West Bengal,” he said but did not elaborate.

    Reacting to Hakim’s comments, BJP spokesman Shamik Bhattacharya said “TMC should think about ethics and ideology before trying to poach BJP leaders.

    “Those not interested in power and position, but love BJP will not leave,” he asserted.

    Newly appointed BJP state president Sumit Majumder appealed to disgruntled party leaders to discuss their grievances with their seniors and assured that he will be ever attentive to address their issues.

    “Don’t take any decision which will weaken the fight for people’s democratic rights in Bengal,” he appealed.

    Besides Babul Supriyo and Mukul Roy three BJP MLAs have also joined TMC.

  • Bhowanipore bypoll: Fresh war of words erupts between BJP and TMC

    By Express News Service

    KOLKATA: In the midst of Bhowanipore bypolls, a fresh war of words erupted between the TMC and the BJP on Sunday. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee is contesting the assembly seat to become an MLA in order to continue as the administrative head of the state.

    TMC minister Firhad Hakim, who is campaigning door-to-door for his party supremo, rubbished BJP’s claim of giving their rivals a tough fight. “Who is she. How the BJP’s candidate is useful? What is her contribution to our society? Is it an edible item or useful for our hair?,” the minister said attacking BJP candidate Priyanka Tibrewal.

    Priyanka, who is one of the petitioners in post-poll violence cases against the TMC in Kolkata High Court which resulted in a CBI probe, was quick to respond. She said, “I defeated the TMC-ruled state government in the high court. He (Hakim) should have congratulated me first. The verdict of Bhowanipore’s voters on September 30 will help him to identify who I am.”

    Referring to Priyanka’s defeat in the recent Assembly elections from Entally constituency, Hakim labelled her as a bacha meye (young girl). “She is a young girl. She had been defeated earlier in the Assembly elections. As no senior BJP leader was ready to contest against Mamata Banerjee, they have pushed the young girl into this battle-ground,” he said.

    Admitting her contender is a senior politician, Priyanka said, “My rival Mamata Banerjee and her campaigner Firhad Hakim are much senior and older than me. But I am here to fight the battle to save democracy and the people of Bengal from TMC’s terror.”

    Bengal BJP accused the ruling TMC of attacking its candidate in such poor fashion to which the electorates do not approve. “The people of Nandigram rejected Mamata Banerjee and the same verdict she will face in Bhowanipore,” said BJP’s spokesperson Shamik Bhattacharya.

    Both the TMC and the BJP has pressed its heavyweights into action for the high-voltage Assembly elections. Mamata assigned her prominent lieutenants like Hakim, Subrata Mukherjee and Madan Mitra to launch massive campaign to ensure victory in her erstwhile constituency. The BJP, too, is all set to engage its high-profile campaigners which include Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri, Bihar’ singer-turned-politician Manoj Tiwari and former TMC MP Dinesh Trivedi, who joined the saffron camp, considering the character of the electorates of Bhowanipore consisting of 40% non-Bengal voters.

  • Bhabanipur bypoll: War of words erupt between Firhad Hakim & BJP candidate Priyanka Tibrewal

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: A war of words on Sunday broke out between Trinamool Congress leader Firhad Hakim and Priyanka Tibrewal, the BJP candidate from the Bhabanipur seat after Hakim said she is a young girl who has been pushed to fight against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the September 30 by-election.

    Tibrewal had joined BJP few years back and unsuccessfully contested from the Entally seat in last assembly polls. She is a lawyer who flagged alleged attacks on her party activists after the polls in court cases.

    Asked to comment on Hakim’s comments, Tibrewal told reporters while out campaigining, “A young girl doesn’t forever remain a young girl, a ‘bachha’ (child). She grows up to face challenges. Obviously my rival Mamata Banerjee and her party campaigner Firhad Hakim are much older than me in age. But I am here to fight the battle, to save democracy, to save people from terror of Trinamool.”

    Hakim told reporters a day before, “Priyanka Tibrewal is a young girl. She had been defeated earlier in Entally. With no senior BJP functionary ready to contest against Mamata Banerjee in Bhabanipur, they have pushed this young girl into the battlefield.”

    “My sympathy for Priyanka Tibrewal as she will suffer a crushing defeat. But cannot help as Mamata Banerjee is in the hearts of people of Bhabanipur,” Hakim said with a touch of sarcasm.

  • Bhowanipore bypoll: War of words erupt between Firhad Hakim & BJP candidate Priyanka Tibrewal

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: A war of words on Sunday broke out between Trinamool Congress leader Firhad Hakim and Priyanka Tibrewal, the BJP candidate from the Bhowanipore seat after Hakim said she is a young girl who has been pushed to fight against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the September 30 by-election.

    Tibrewal had joined BJP few years back and unsuccessfully contested from the Entally seat in last assembly polls. She is a lawyer who flagged alleged attacks on her party activists after the polls in court cases.

    Asked to comment on Hakim’s comments, Tibrewal told reporters while out campaigining, “A young girl doesn’t forever remain a young girl, a ‘bachha’ (child). She grows up to face challenges. Obviously my rival Mamata Banerjee and her party campaigner Firhad Hakim are much older than me in age. But I am here to fight the battle, to save democracy, to save people from terror of Trinamool.”

    Hakim told reporters a day before, “Priyanka Tibrewal is a young girl. She had been defeated earlier in Entally. With no senior BJP functionary ready to contest against Mamata Banerjee in Bhowanipore, they have pushed this young girl into the battlefield.”

    “My sympathy for Priyanka Tibrewal as she will suffer a crushing defeat. But cannot help as Mamata Banerjee is in the hearts of people of Bhowanipore,” Hakim said with a touch of sarcasm.

  • Narada scam: ED files prosecution complaint under PMLA against five Trinamool leaders

    By ANI

    NEW DELHI: Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a Prosecution Complaint under Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) in case of Narada sting operation case against Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders Firhad Hakim, Subrata Mukherjee, Madan Mitra, Sovan Chatterjee and IPS Officer SMH Meerza before the Special Judge (PMLA) in Kolkata.

    According to the official statement by the government agency, “Enforcement Directorate has filed a Prosecution Complaint under Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) in the case of Narada Sting Operation, against Firhad Hakim, Transport and Housing Minister, Government of West Bengal, Subrata Mukherjee, Panchayat Minister, Government of West Bengal, Madan Mitra, MLA West Bengal, Sovan Chatterjee, former Mayor of Kolkata and S.M.H.Meerza, an IPS Officer of West Bengal Cadre before the Special Judge (PMLA), Kolkata with the prayer for awarding punishment to the accused for committing offence of money laundering and confiscation of the amount of gratification.”

    ED initiated an investigation on the basis of FIR registered by Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) under the provisions of corruption act, 1988 and IPC, 1868 against 12 public persons, which includes sitting MLAs and MPs of West Bengal and an IPS officer of West Bengal cadre.

    As per FIR, Mathew Samuel had conducted a sting operation during 2014 and recorded visual footage of these persons, who either themselves took money or instructed someone else to make money on their behalf from him.

    In the sting operation, it was seen that the accused, in their capacity as public servants, accepted bribes to favour an individual, who was posing as a representative of a company at the time of transaction. Money laundering investigation conducted by ED has revealed that accused persons not only received illegal gratifications but also possessed the proceeds of crime and tried to conceal it by creating fictitious stories and mislead the investigation. Therefore today, ED has filed a Prosecution Complaint, wherein it is highlighted that how the above-mentioned highly placed persons laundered the proceeds of crime/illegal gratification. The Court has taken cognizance of the matter and directed to serve the summons to all the accused. The directorate is carrying out further investigation against the other accused in this case. (ANI)

  • Court summons two West Bengal ministers, three others in Narada sting tapes case

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: A special court on Wednesday ordered issuance of summonses to West Bengal ministers Subrata Mukherjee and Firhad Hakim besides three others after taking cognizance of a chargesheet by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act in the Narada sting tapes case.

    Sources in it said that the ED, which is probing the money laundering aspect of the Narada sting operation, had submitted the chargesheet against the five in the special court earlier in the day. The special CBI judge taking cognizance of the prosecution complaint of the ED, which is equivalent to chargesheet, ordered the appearance of the accused on November 16.

    Apart from the two ministers and Trinamool Congress MLA Madan Mitra, cognizance was also taken against former Kolkata mayor Sovan Chatterjee and suspended IPS officer SMH Mirza. The court directed that the summonses to Mukherjee, Hakim and Mitra be served through the office of the West Bengal assembly speaker since the three are MLAs.

    Summonses to the other two are to be served directly at their addresses, the court directed.

    Sources in the central agency said, “The ED has prayed for awarding maximum punishment to the accused for committing the offence of money laundering and confiscation of the bribe money accepted by the accused”.

    The Narada 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.

    In the video footage released in 2014 just before the Lok Sabha polls several TMC leaders were allegedly seen accepting money from a person posing as a businessman. The man was purpotedly offering the money to get favours for starting a business in the state.

    Mathew Samuels, CEO of the Narada news portal, posed as the businessman in the purpoted video. The CBI had arrested Firhad Hakim, Subrata Mukherjee, Madan Mitra and Sovan Chatterjee in the Narada bribery case in May this year.

    Sultan Ahmed, a Trinamool Congress MP, who too figured in the video, died of heart attack in September, 2017.

  • Narada case: ED names two Mamata ministers, TMC MLA in chargesheet

    By Express News Service

    KOLKATA: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) submitted chargesheet in a Kolkata court in connection with the Narada sting operation case naming two Trinamool Congress ministers Firhad Hakim and Subrata Mukherjee, TMC MLA Madan Mitra, former mayor of Kolkata Sovan Chatterjee and IPS officer SMH Mirza as accused.

    The ED also appealed to the court for further investigation against Suvendu Adhikari, the Leader of Opposition in Bengal Assembly who joined the BJP months before the Assembly polls, Mukul Roy, who returned to TMC’s fold from BJP, TMC MPs Kakali Ghosh Dastidar, Prasun Banerjee, Aparupa Poddar and former MLA Iqbal Ahmed.

    The court also approved the petition of the central agency seeking permission to summon the accused asking them to appear in its Kolkata office on November 16. The court directed the ED to send summons to the three TMC lawmakers through the office of the Speaker of West Bengal Assembly and allowed the central agency to summon Chatterjee and Mirza directly.

    “The ED submitted the chargesheet holding the five accused guilty of laundering money that they procured during the course of Narada sting operation. They have been summoned by the agency to follow the nest course of legal action,” said ED’s lawyer Abhijit Bhadra.

    Hakim is the transport and housing minister and Mukherjee looks after panchayat affairs in Mamata’s cabinet.

    On May 17, a fortnight after the TMC returned to power with the thumping majority for the third straight term, the CBI had arrested the TMC MLAs and former Kolkata mayor and they were granted bail by Kolkata high court days later.

    The arrests came after governor Jagdeep Dhankhar’s clearance giving the CBI a go-ahead to prosecute the TMC MLAs which triggered a political uproar. The Speaker of the Assembly said he was not aware of the action against the legislators and chief minister Mamata Banerjee described the arrests as political vendetta against TMC’s victory in the Assembly polls.

    The sting operation was conducted by Narada news founder Mathew Samuel in 2014 by floating a fictitious company. In the sting operation, Samuel and a representative of the fictitious company were seen approaching people having resemblance with the TMC leaders, whose names were mentioned in the complaint, and offering them bribes.

    The video footage of the sting operation was aired days before the 2016 Assembly elections in Bengal.

  • Four Trinamool Congress leaders appear before CBI court in Narada sting case

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Four senior leaders, facing trial in the Narada case, appeared before the special CBI judge at a court in Kolkata on Friday. Judge Anupam Mukerjee had on April 17, while ordering interim bail to the four leaders, directed them to physically appear before the court on June 4.

    State ministers Subrata Mukherjee and Firhad Hakim, TMC MLA Madan Mitra and former city mayor Sovan Chatterjee appeared before the judge and left the Bankshall court premises after a while. Judge Mukherjee said that the next date for the hearing of the matter will be fixed later in the day.

    A five-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court granted interim bail on May 28 to the four leaders, who were arrested on May 17 by the CBI, which is investigating the Narada sting tape case on an order of the high court.

    The special CBI court had granted them bail on that day itself, but the order was stayed by the high court, which remanded them to judicial custody.

    Production of the four before the special CBI court was held virtually on May 17 as the investigating agency claimed it was unable to produce the accused in court physically owing to protests outside its office at Nizam Palace by a mob of 2,000-3,000 people.

    Chargesheet in the Narada sting case was also submitted against the accused before the special court on that day. The special court, granting interim bail, had fixed the next date of hearing on June 4, when the accused were to appear before it.

    They were placed under house arrest on May 21 by a division bench of the high court, which modified its earlier stay on interim bail granted to the four leaders by the special CBI court. The matter was referred to a larger bench of five judges after the judges of a division bench presided by Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal differed on granting interim bail to the four accused.

  • Narada sting case: SC allows CBI to withdraw appeal against HC order allowing house arrest of Trinamool leaders

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Tuesday permitted the CBI to withdraw its appeal against the Calcutta High Court order allowing house arrest of four leaders, including three from the TMC, in the Narada bribery case.

    A vacation bench comprising Justices Vineet Saran and B R Gavai took note of the fact that a five-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court is already hearing the Narada bribery case and permitted Solicitor General Tuahar Mehta, appearing for the CBI, to take back its appeal and raise all the grievances there in the high court.

    “We have not expressed any opinion on the merits of the case and our observations do not reflect our views on merits of the matter,” the bench said, adding that the West Bengal and leaders are also free to raise their submissions on the high court.

    The high court had on May 21 ordered shifting of two West Bengal ministers, an MLA and a former Kolkata mayor to house arrest from jail.

    A division bench, presided by Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal, differed on the issue of recalling the stay on bail to the four accused.

    On May 24, the five-judge bench of the High Court heard the case and refused the prayer by CBI to adjourn the matter.

    West Bengal Transport Minister Firhad Hakim, Panchayat Minister Subrata Mukherjee, TMC MLA Madan Mitra and former Kolkata mayor Sovan Chatterjee were arrested by the CBI last Monday in connection with the Narada sting tape case that is being investigated by the agency on a 2017 order of the high court.

  • Narada case: Calcutta HC refuses CBI prayer to adjourn matter

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court on Monday took up hearing in the Narada sting tapes case — in which two Bengal ministers, a TMC MLA and a former mayor of Kolkata have been arrested — refusing a prayer by the CBI to adjourn the matter.

    Representing the CBI, Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta, during the virtual session, prayed before the five-judge bench that it adjourn hearing in the case, as the investigating agency has filed a special leave petition (SLP) before the Supreme Court, in connection with the high court’s May 19 and May 21 orders.

    The five-judge bench of the high court, however, decided to commence hearing in the matter since the SLP is yet to be listed for hearing before the apex court.

    It heard the CBI plea for transfer of the case from lower court to high court, and applications filed by the accused for recall of the stay order the high court had given on a lower court ruling.

    The CBI has sought before the high court transfer of the case alleging extraordinary circumstances.

    The agency claimed that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee sat on a dharna at the CBI office after the arrests were made, and that it could not produce the four accused in court physically owing to unruly protests by a large number of people outside its office complex.

    The four leaders – ministers Firhad Hakim and Subrata Mukherjee, TMC MLA Madan Mitra and former city mayor Sovan Chatterjee — were arrested on May 17 morning by the CBI, which is investigating the Narada sting tapes case on the order of the high court.

    A special CBI court had on that very day granted interim bail to the four accused, but a division bench of the high court — comprising Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal and Justice Arijit Banerjee — later stayed its decision, following which the leaders were sent to judicial custody.

    Differing on the application filed by the accused for recall of the stay order, Justice Arijit Banerjee had on May 19 passed an order allowing bail, while acting chief justice Bindal wanted that they be placed under house arrest.

    The division bench then passed an order on May 21, sending the four accused to house arrest, modifying its earlier order that stayed their bail granted by a CBI court.

    The ministers and the other two are undergoing house confinement since May 21.

    In view of the difference of opinion, the matter was then referred to a larger bench.

    A five-judge bench comprising the acting Chief Justice, justices I P Mukerji, Harish Tandon, Soumen Sen and Arijit Banerjee was subsequently constituted and the case was listed for hearing at 11 am on Monday.

    Lawyer Manishankar Chatterjee, who is representing Subrata Mukherjee, said that the issues that would be heard in the high court were noted by the five-judge bench on Monday.

    Among the main issues that were brought to the fore include the possibility of hearing the CBI’s transfer application together with the bail pleas filed by the accused, Chatterjee said.

    He further said that the five-judge bench has fixed the matter for further hearing on Wednesday.

    The sting operation, conducted by Mathew Samuel of Narada TV news channel in 2014, had purportedly caught on camera politicians accepting bribes in lieu of favours.