CBI summons Kakoli, Subrata skips grilling
However, state panchayet minister Subrata Mukherjee, who was asked to appear for interrogation on Thursday, did not turn up at the CBI office.
Kolkata: Speeding up investigation into the Narada sting operation case, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday summoned Trinamul Congress MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar for questioning on Monday or Tuesday next week. However, state panchayet minister Subrata Mukherjee, who was asked to appear for interrogation on Thursday, did not turn up at the CBI office.
Sources in the CBI claimed that they had made repeated calls to Ms Dastidar’s phone, which went unanswered. “We have sent her a notice by e mail, asking her to appear on Monday or Tuesday,” a CBI official said. Mr Mukherjee’s counsel Mani Shankar Chatterjee who appeared at the CBI office at Nizam Palace informed the central investigating agency that his client was presently in Digha, East Midnapore to attend a government programme. “Mr Mukherjee is ready to cooperate with the CBI. The notice had reached his house on Wednesday evening when he was away in Digha. I was informed him that he has been asked to appear today. I am here to inform the CBI that Mr Mukherjee is presently in Digha and has sought time for his appearance,” Mr Chatterjee told reporters.
CBI sources said that the panchayet minister had requested them to summon him for questioning after the July 21 Martyr’s Day programme organised by the Trinamul Congress. The minister who had accompanied chief minister Mamata Banerjee for her East Midnapore district visit returned to the city on Thursday late afternoon.
Meanwhile, in another significant development, the CBI claimed to have received voice samples of MP Sultan Ahmed and MLA Iqbal Ahmed, both of whom were questioned. “We had asked them for voice records but they had declined. We had asked Doordarshan for voice samples of the two and they had sent us their voice recording during their oath taking ceremony. We will tally these recordings with their voice in the Narada video,” a CBI sleuth said. Mr Ahmed on Thursday appeared before the Enforcement Directorate on the basis of their summons to him.