West Bengal Speaker summons CBI, ED officials

Speaker of West Bengal Assembly Biman Banerjee on Monday issued summons to officials of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to appear in the State Assembly on September 22.

The officers have been summoned to explain why the Speaker was not informed when the agencies filed chargesheets against elected representatives of the State Assembly.

Recently the central investigation agencies had filed chargesheets against Ministers Firhad Hakim, Subrata Mukherjee and Trinamool Congress MLA Madan Mitra in the Narada sting videos case. The CBI had arrested four political heavyweights including the two Ministers, the TMC MLA and former TMC Minister Sovan Chatterjee in the Narada case in May 2021. The accused were granted bail by the Calcutta High Court.

Minister quizzed

Meanwhile, CBI officials on Monday questioned State Industry Minister Partha Chatterjee in connection with chit fund case involving the I-Core group. Three members of the CBI met the Minister at his office. Along with Narada sting tapes the CBI and ED are also probing the chit fund case in the State.

Speaking to journalists later, Mr. Chatterjee said that he tried to answer the questions of the CBI to best of his knowledge. The CBI had sent summons to Mr. Chatterjee to appear before the agency, but the Minister wrote back suggesting that the officers can come to his residence. The CBI has been investigating the chit fund scam since May 2014 as per the instructions of Calcutta High Court.

One more held

In another development the CBI arrested another accused in a case involving post poll violence at Illambazar in Birbhum district.

The CBI has registered more than 30 FIRs in connection with the violence following the Assembly elections and arrested over a dozen persons. The Calcutta High Court on August 19 had directed CBI to probe cases of post poll violence involving murder and sexual assault.