Kolkata: Launching a probe in Narada sting operation, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday summoned Manitoba Chakraborty and Rajesh Johan, two among the three petitioners, who moved the Calcutta high court, seeking a CBI probe into the bribery allegations against the Trinamul Congress leaders, for questioning on Sunday morning after collecting all the probe-related documents, including the CCTV footages.
The agency has asked Mr Chakraborty, a state Congress leader, and Mr Johan, a state BJP leader, to appear at its anti-corruption branch office (ACB) Kolkata office around 10am, said sources. They added the third petitioner, Akshay Sarengi, will also be summoned for questioning soon.
Narada chief executive officer Mathew Samuel was also called up by the agency for questioning during the day but he reportedly told he was undergoing treatment at a Kochi hospital, sources revealed, adding the CBI officer concerned then asked him not to leave the hospital as he would be questioned there on Sunday.
Meanwhile, an ACB team left for Kochi to quiz Mr Samuel, sources disclosed. Another team may visit his New Delhi office on Sunday.
In Kolkata, an eight-member CBI team led by superintendent of police (ACB) Kolkata, Nagendra Prasad, visited the State Bank of India office on Strand Road around 10.55am. The registrar general also accompanied the team.
Sources said the officials took possession of Mr Samuel’s laptop, mobile phone, pen drive and the hard disk of his computer, sting footages and reports of the Central Forensic Science Laboratory. All the items were kept at the SBI branch following the high court’s direction earlier.
The team later held a meeting with the high court official and collected some documents before heading for Nizam Palace, where a meeting was held by three senior CBI officers from New Delhi to examine the footage. The CBI is likely to complete its preliminary inquiry by Monday.
The high court on Friday ordered the CBI to collect all the documents related to the sting in 24 hours and submit the report in 72 hours. It may soon appeal to the court for a permission to initiate an FIR on charges under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
