The CBI on Thursday arrested IPS officer S.M.H. Meerza in connection with the Narada sting, the first arrest in connection with the 2014 operation that showed persons resembling the policeman and several Trinamul politicians accepting money from a journalist posing as a businessman.
A special CBI court in Calcutta sent Meerza to the central agency’s custody till September 30.
BJP leader Mukul Roy, a person resembling whom had been seen in the Narada video, has been summoned by the CBI for questioning alongside Meerza. “I will go if I get a summons. I am yet to get any,” he said.
Meerza, the commandant of the State Armed Police, has been charged with criminal conspiracy and under sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act. Sources in the CBI said a disproportionate assets case would also be started against him.
A person resembling Meerza had been seen in the video accepting a bribe of Rs 5 lakh from Narada Media chief Mathew Samuel, who had posed as a businessman.
“He had accepted a bribe of Rs 5 lakh. He has failed to satisfy the investigators and a custodial interrogation is needed,” a CBI lawyer told the court.
Meerza’s counsel, Sayan De, claimed that the CBI had arrested his client with a particular motive.
“A man who looked like my client was seen taking money. But the investigators could not prove whether the footage was genuine or manufactured. Before reaching a conclusion on the veracity of the video footage, the investigators cannot arrest my client,” De said while seeking bail.
The lawyer claimed that Meerza had appeared before the investigators whenever they called him. “He was last interrogated on September 24. But today when he went to face interrogation, they arrested him suddenly,” De said.
Roy said the CBI was “doing its job” and that the “law will take its own course”.
Asked if he was apprehending arrest, Roy said: “I was not seen taking money from anybody, neither have anyone offered me any money. I had directed the businessman to Meerza as they wanted to set up a business in Burdwan and he was the SP of the district then.”
Trinamul alleged that the CBI was acting under instructions from the BJP.
