Narada sting: Kolkata Police summon TMC leader Iqbal Ahmed

According to Kolkata Police officials, Iqbal Ahmed has been directed to attend Kolkata Police headquarters Lalbazar for interrogation at 5 pm. on Tuesday.

Earlier on June 17, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced to hold a probe into Narada sting case under the leadership of Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajiv Kumar.

Following Mamata Banerjee's announcement, Kolkata Mayor Shovan Chatterjee's wife Ratna Chatterjee claimed that she had lodged a complaint against Narada News at New Market Police Station in central Kolkata on June 18 (Saturday).

Besides forming a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to enquire the matter, Kolkata Police have also initiated a case against Narada News under several IPC sections, including 120-B, 469, 171-G, 500 and 505 (1)(b), based upon Ratna Chatterjee's complaint.

After commencing investigation into the matter, Kolkata Police officials sent summon to Narada News CEO Mathew Samuel twice and visited a hotel in central part of the city, where Samuel checked in few months ago. They also checked hotel's CCTV footage, payment details and Samuel's visitors list.

Mathew Samuel, however, avoided the summons reasoning that the matter is sub-judicial in Calcutta High Court.

Few days earlier, senior IPS officer and former SP of Burdwan district S. M. H. Mirza was quizzed by Kolkata Police's investigators in the same case.

Three Public Interest Litigations (PIL), demanding the CBI and ED joint probe into Narada sting operation, are subjudicial in division bench of Calcutta High Court, comprising of Chief Justice Manjulla Chellur and Justice Arijit Banerjee.

Since March 14, news portal- Narada News- released several sting operation footage, where TMC's leaders, ministers, MPs and MLAs were exposed while allegedly taking bribes.

From the beginning, TMC leaderships had claimed that the sting footage was doctored and conspiracy of oppositions.

(Reporting by Deepayan Sinha)