ED summons Kolkata mayor in Narada Sting Operation case

New Delhi: Kolkata mayor Sovan Chatterjee was summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the Narada Sting case.

The mayor's counsel stated that Chatterjee would not be able to appear before the ED officers as he has prior commitments and thus has asked for time.

On June 28, Narada News CEO Mathew Samuel appeared before the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in Kolkata in connection with the case.

The sting operation pertains to the secret filming of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders and an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer while they were allegedly accepting money from representatives of a fictitious company in return of extending favours to it.

Read: Narada sting: ED registers case against TMC leaders

The TMC leaders against whom the CBI has registered cases, now also booked by the Enforcement Directorate, include Rajya Sabha MP Mukul Roy, Lok Sabha MPs Saugata Roy, Aparupa Poddar, Sultan Ahmed, Prasun Banerjee and Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar.

West Bengal ministers, including Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim, Transport Minister Suvendu Adhikari, Environment Minister Sovan Chatterjee, Panchayati Raj and Rural Development Minister Subrata Mukherjee have also been named in the FIR.

Former minister Madan Mitra, MLA Iqbal Ahmed and IPS officer Saiyaad Mustafa Hussain Mirza have also been accused in the case.

Samuel had earlier released three sets of videos of the sting operation, where top TMC leaders were allegedly seen accepting bribes from journalists posing as businessmen.

The ruling party had dismissed the allegation citing that the tapes were 'doctored'.

The sting operation video was released by the portal on March 14, 2016, just ahead of the West Bengal Assembly elections.