The CBI is gearing up to send a fresh reminder to Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla for sanction to prosecute BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari and Trinamul MPs Prasun Banerjee, Saugata Roy and Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar in the Narada case.
On Wednesday, officers of the CBI’s Anti Corruption Branch said a prosecution sanction was needed for drawing up a chargesheet against each of the accused in the Narada case.
“It would not be possible for us to draw up chargesheets without the approval of the Lok Sabha speaker,” said a senior officer.
“The allegations in this case were made when the four accused were MPs,” said the officer, explaining the need for the Speaker’s sanction.
The CBI said it was yet to find strong evidence of the involvement of BJP leader Mukul Roy and Trinamul MP Aparupa Poddar in the illegal gratification case.
Several senior sleuths said the reminder to the Lok Sabha speaker this time would also mention the arrest of four accused, including two Bengal ministers, in the case after chargesheets had been drawn up against them.
The CBI had taken up the investigation of the case following orders of Calcutta High Court in 2017 and almost four years later charge sheeted four Bengal leaders including two ministers in the Mamata Banerjee cabinet, Firhad Hakim and Subrata Mukherjee, apart from two others including Trinamul MLA Madan Mitra and Sovan Chatterjee, a former mayor who had a brief stint in the saffron camp before he snapped his ties.
The four were arrested on May 17 and remanded in judicial custody. While the CBI claimed that it had sent several reminders to the Lok Sabha speaker in the past, the last one being in April 2019, the decision to send a fresh one has raised questions.
Several senior bureaucrats and police officers wondered why the CBI had not sent the reminder ahead of the May 17-arrests of the four leaders and what made the agency wait through 2020.
“It appears the team has wrapped up its investigation and therefore, wants to draw up chargesheets. Why wasn’t a reminder sent last year?,” asked a senior IPS officer in the Bengal police directorate. “The CBI is accountable to Calcutta High Court for all its moves.”
The CBI said it had informed the high court about the delay in getting the Speaker’s sanction.
