Narada sting operation
It showed several politicians and a high-ranked police officer accepting cash bribes in exchange for providing unofficial favors to a company.
As of June 2017[update], the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Enforcement Directorate (ED) and a parliamentary ethics committee are probing the case.
He was one of the main principals behind the sting operation West End which spawned a miniature democratic crisis in 2001 and eventually led to the resignation of Defence Minister George Fernandes and later, the conviction of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Bangaru Laxman.
[2][3] Samuel claims that 'Tiger' initially introduced him to Iqbal Ahmed, the then deputy mayor of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, and IPS officer S. M. H. Mirza.
[2] In the 52 hours of footage photographed by Samuel and his colleague Angel Abraham around 2014, many prominent politicians resembling Members of Parliament Mukul Roy, Saugata Roy, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Prasun Bannerjee, Suvendu Adhikari and Sultan Ahmed, and state ministers Madan Mitra, Subrata Mukherjee and Firhad Hakim, and Iqbal Ahmed[3][4] were seen accepting alleged bribes in the form of wads of cash in exchange for doing unofficial favors for Impex Consultancy Solutions floated by Samuel himself.
[2] The police subsequently filed a criminal case against Singh expecting that a large part of the sum might have been harvested from his chit fund business in West Bengal.
[2] The Trinamool Congress initially denied any connection with the sting operation, alleging it to be a product of political conspiracy and the video to be entirely forged.
[13][14] Trinamool party supremo and the Chief Minister of West Bengal-Mamata Banerjee alleged it to be a smear campaign by the opposition manifesting from vendetta-politics.
[25][26][27] Soon, three public-interest litigations from the Indian Congress party and BJP were filed in Calcutta High Court asking for an impartial probe in light of the influential positions held by the accused.
[30][31][32] The state subsequently initiated its own probe which booked Samuel under multiple sections of the IPC 469 (forgery to harm reputation), 500 (defamation), 120(B) (criminal conspiracy) etc.
[39] Whilst the state objected to the CBI handling the probe, a bench of the Court, presided by Chief Justice Nishita Mhatre subsequently held that the findings of the sting were not undermined by the legality of Mathew Samuel's actions and that an investigation by an impartial agency would be proceeded with.
Meerza initially denied accepting any cash but later conceded to the veracity of the tape and claimed that he has donated the entire amount to an orphanage.
[52] The CBI subsequently contacted Apple Inc. to retrieve the contents of the folder but whilst denying to share the password citing privacy requirements, they confirmed that the entire sting-footage had indeed been shot by an iPhone.
[57][58][59] Since the sting operation involved Members of Parliament, a Lok Sabha ethics committee was also set up to initiate a probe to determine if the persons committed a breach of privilege of the house concerned.
[61] In January 2021 the CBI sought sanction from then West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar to prosecute Firhad Hakim, Madan Mitra, Subrata Mukherjee and Sovan Chatterjee in the Narada case.
Biman Banerjee, the Speaker of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly, argued that the arrests were illegal as those were made on the basis of the Governor's permission.
