Narada scam comes back to haunt Bengal politics, and Mukul Roy

Despite being 'Accused No. 1' in the FIR, Roy was left untouched by the CBI in the Monday mayhem

A video of politicians taking money sent shockwaves before the 2016 West Bengal Assembly elections, but ultimately had little to no impact on the poll result. Political leaders were put to jail, and soon after, they were roaming scot-free. Many thought that the Narada scam is done and dusted. But the CBI had other ideas.

When fresh waves of the Narada scam hit the ruling Trinamool Congress on Monday, leading to the arrest of top party leaders Madan Mitra, Firhad Hakim, Subrata Mukherjee and former BJP leader Sovan Chatterjee by the CBI, questions were raised about Mukul Roy and Suvendu Adhikari.

Roy, alleged to be one of the prime honchos involved in the Narada scam, along with fellow turncoat Adhikari, was left untouched by the CBI in the Monday mayhem. This has set tongues wagging, and provided the TMC with ammunition to criticise the CBI.

Incidentally, the CBI sent requests for prosecution of the four arrested leaders to the Governor in January — two months ahead of polls — and got the sanction within five days of the results. Also, the CBI had not applied for prosecution sanction against Roy, who was among the first to switch over from TMC in 2017, and is Accused No.1 in the agency’s FIR.

Read more: Arrested Bengal ministers, leaders taken to jail

What is the Narada scam or Narada sting operation?

The sting operation was a series of secret tapes recorded by Mathew Samuel of Narada TV news channel in 2014. The tapes showed TMC ministers, leaders and an IPS officer taking money from representatives of a fictitious company in lieu of favours.

Subrata Mukherjee, Sovan Chatterjee, Madan Mitra, Firhad Hakim, Saugata Roy, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar and Prasun Banerjee were the leaders who were allegedly caught on camera. TMC turncoats and currently-BJP leaders Mukul Roy and Suvendu Adhikari were also accused in the case.

MH Ahmed Mirza, a senior police officer, was the first accused in the case to be arrested in 2019.

Also read: As Narada case takes turn, no word on Suvendu's arrest

In an interview with Outlook, Mathew said even though Mukul Roy did not take the money himself, he took it via Mirza. The amount was a whopping Rs 15 lakh.

"It may be correct to say that Roy did not receive the money directly from him and so there is no tape to show Roy took the money. Mirza, during interrogation, confessed to the CBI that he took the money for Roy," said Mathew.

Roy, once considered number two in the TMC and a part of supremo Mamata Banerjee's inner circle, defected to the BJP in 2017.

Mathew gave Firhad Hakim, Subrata Mukherjee and Madan Mitra Rs 5 lakh each, much smaller compared to the amount that Mukul got. Mathew claims that there is a recorded conversation about him delivering the money to Mirza who can then pass it on to Roy.

Mukul Roy's victory from Krishnanagar Uttar was one of the few bright spots in BJP's debacle in the recently-concluded state Assembly elections. It will be interesting to see in the coming days how he handles this controversy, and what approach CBI takes when it comes to dealing with the national vice-president of BJP.