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What is Narada case?
Narada case or Narada sting operation was a series of sting operations carried out by a news portal called Narada news, which led to the uncovering of ‘corrupt’ practices of the ministers in the Trinamool Congress-led West Bengal government. The sting operations were carried out by Mathew Samuel, who was earlier with Tehelka and quit to start his own TV Channel in West Bengal. The operation was conducted for the Tehelka magazine but it was published by the Narada news portal after Samuel quit the magazine. The sting operations were carried out over a period of two years targeting senior government officers and leaders of the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC). It showed several politicians and officers accepting cash bribes for providing favours to a company. It was published months before the 2016 West Bengal Assembly elections.
The Calcutta High Court ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation-led probe into the Narada scam in March 2017. The Enforcement Directorate is also probing the case. A Lok Sabha ethics committee was also set up as the accused involved Members of Parliament.
How was the Narada scam unearthed?
The sting operation was carried out by Narada News founder Mathew Samuel. Samuel created a cover for himself as a high-ranking official of a fictitious Chennai-based company. He also created a fake Aadhaar Card in the name of Santhosh Shankaran. Social media profiles were also created. According to Samuel, he initially approached the then deputy mayor of Kolkata Municipal Corporation Iqbal Ahmed who introduced him to an IPS officer. The IPS officer (now suspended), HMS Mirza, introduced Samuel to Subrata Mukherjee, Firhad Hakim, Aparupa Poddar, Madan Mitra, and Mukul Roy. He later met Saugata Roy, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Prasun Bannerjee, Suvendu Adhikari, and Sultan Ahmad. In the 52 hours of footage, many of the state ministers and MPs were seen to be accepting bribes in the form of cash in return for giving undue favours.
The sting operation was a major setback for TMC as it was already dealing with allegations of Saradha Chit fund scam. The party defended itself by saying that it was a political conspiracy against them and the videos were forged. The party also said the bribes were received as donations to the party. Despite the backlash, TMC managed to secure victory in the 2016 Assembly elections.
What has happened since the Narada scam was unearthed?
Since then, many of the accused in the Narada case have switched to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). This includes heavyweight leaders such as Suvendu Adhikari and Mukul Roy, among others. The CBI and the ED are still investigating the case. Recently, after Mamata Banerjee-led TMC was voted back to power in the 2021 Assembly elections for the third time, the CBI moved to arrest four leaders of TMC who were named in the Narada case. This led to a serious Centre-state fight after the state government alleged it was unconstitutional to arrest the leaders without the consent of the Assembly speaker. The High Court granted interim bail to the four leaders arrested by the CBI. The High Court is hearing a CBI plea to transfer the Narada case, presently pending before a special court, to the High Court.