ED registers PMLA case in Narada sting involving TMC leaders

New Delhi: The ED has registered a money laundering case in the Narada 'sting' where a number of Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders, including MPs and ministers, were allegedly seen on camera taking money.

The agency, officials said, has registered the case under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) after studying a CBI FIR.

It will probe the 'proceeds of crime' generated in this case and soon summonses would be issued to the accused for questioning, they said.

While the CBI's criminal FIR had been registered against 12 TMC leaders and an IPS officer, the Enforcement Directorate's FIR, called Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR), has been booked against 14 entities that includes a category of unknown persons apart from the 13 in the CBI compliant, they said.

The sting operation pertains to the secret filming of the TMC leaders and the IPS officer while they allegedly accepted money from the representatives of a fictitious company for extending favours to it.

The TMC leaders against whom the CBI has registered the FIR, now also booked by the ED, include Rajya Sabha MP Mukul Roy, Lok Sabha MPs--Saugata Roy, Aparupa Poddar, Sultan Ahmed, Prasun Banerjee and Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar.

West Bengal ministers including Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim, Transport Minister Suvendu Adhikari, Environment Minister Sovan Chatterjee, Panchayati Raj and Rural Development Minister Subrata Mukherjee have also been named in the FIR.

Former Minister Madan Mitra, MLA Iqbal Ahmed and IPS officer Saiyaad Mustafa Hussain Mirza have also been made accused in the case. Mirza, who was then posted as the Superintendent of Police of Burdwan, was too purportedly seen accepting money on camera.

The Calcutta High Court had ordered the CBI to conduct a preliminary enquiry in the matter and had later asked it to file an FIR to probe the incident.

The FIR was registered under section 120 (b) of IPC related to criminal conspiracy and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act dealing with bribery and criminal misconduct.

The sting operation was supposed to be published in a magazine where Mathew Samuel, the man behind it, was then working. However, the tapes were later run on Naradanews.Com where he is now the CEO.

The Calcutta High Court on Friday directed the CBI to continue with its probe into the sting operation case.