Narada Bribery Case and the recent controversy
- The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested ministers Firhad Hakim and Subrata Mukherjee, TMC MLA Madan Mitra, and former Kolkata Mayor Sovan Chattopadhyay in the Narada bribery case.
- The move comes days after Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar gave his consent to the CBI for filing a chargesheet against the four accused and sanctioned prosecution against them.
- All of them were state ministers who were seen taking money in the purported Narada sting operation.
- The tapes were released ahead of the 2016 state Assembly polls.
- The Calcutta High Court had ordered a CBI probe into the sting operation in March 2017.
THE NARADA CASE
- The Narada sting operation was conducted by Narada news founder Mathew Samuel for over two years in West Bengal.
- Conducted in 2014 for the news magazine Tehelka, it was published on a private news website Narada News months before the 2016 West Bengal Assembly elections.
- As part of the operation, Samuel formed a fictitious company named Impex Consultancy Solutions and approached several TMC ministers, MPs, asking them for favours in return for money.
- In it, the then TMC MPs were seen accepting alleged bribes in the form of wads of cash in exchange for extending unofficial favours.
GOVERNOR’S ROLE
- West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar, on a request by the CBI, sanctioned the prosecution of Subrata Mukherjee, Firhad Hakim, Madan Mitra and Sovan Chatterjee.
- Honourable governor is the competent authority to accord sanction in terms of law as he happens to be the appointing authority for such ministers in terms of Article 164 of the Constitution
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