Enforcement Directorate summons four TMC leaders

Kolkata: Heavyweight Trinamul Congress ministers Subhendu Adhikari, Subrata Mukherjee, Firhad Hakim and Trinamul Lok Sabha MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar have been summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for questioning in the Narada sting operation case next week. 

Among them, Mr Adhikari has been asked to appear at the ED office in CGO Complex of Salt Lake on July 24. This is the first time that he has been served the summons. It is not clear if he would appear before the union finance ministry’s agency or not. 

Mr Adhikari was the Trinamul MP from Tamluk in East Midnapore when he was caught accepting cash in the sting operation by Narada CEO Mathew Samuel in 2014. 

He later contested the Assembly Elections and won to become the state transport minister. His name had earlier cropped up during a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the multi-crore Saradha chit fund scam. 

Apart from Mr Adhikari, Mr Mukherjee (the panchayat minister), Mr Hakim (the urban development minister), Dr Ghosh Dastidar, who was recently questioned by the CBI, have also been summoned by the ED for grilling, according to sources. 

While Mr Mukherjee was seen accepting cash, Mr Hakim wasn’t found taking money in his hand. Besides, another Trinamul minister and Kolkata mayor Sovan Chatterjee, who earlier skipped his appearance citing preoccupation with work, has been called by the ED again. He has been asked to appear on July 25. 

Narada CEO Mathew Samuel on Wednesday brushed aside Dr Ghosh Dastidar’s reported claim of returning the money to him after accepting it during the sting. He came to the city in the morning to face another round of questioning by the CBI.