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Bengal assembly moves privilege motion against CBI, ED officers in Narada case
The ED sent a letter to the speaker saying it does not need to seek his sanction, while the CBI wrote that the sanction was given by Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar. The agencies later moved the Calcutta high court seeking relief from appearance before the speaker.
In a rare move, the West Bengal legislative assembly on Wednesday initiated a motion against two senior officers of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED), accusing them of breaching the privilege of the House by not seeking the consent of the speaker before filing a charge-sheet and arresting three Trinamool Congress (TMC) legislators in the Narada sting operation case in May.
The privilege motion, moved by Tapas Roy, TMC’s deputy chief whip in the assembly, was accepted by the House and forwarded to the committee of privileges for further proceedings.
The officers are CBI deputy superintendent of police Satyendra Singh and ED assistant director Rathin Biswas who signed the respective charge sheets.
Both of them were summoned by speaker Biman Banerjee in September. The ED sent a letter to the speaker saying it does not need to seek his sanction, while the CBI wrote that the sanction was given by Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar. The agencies later moved the Calcutta high court seeking relief from appearance before the speaker.
Banerjee had sent separate summons to the CBI and ED in September, asking the agencies to explain how charges were framed against TMC ministers Subrata Mukherjee and Firhad Hakim and legislator Madan Mitra in the 2014 Narada case without his sanction.
The CBI arrested the three legislators and former TMC lawmaker Sovon Chatterjee on May 17, hours after filing its charge sheet. The ED submitted a charge sheet against them before a special court in Kolkata on September 1.
Subrata Mukherjee, the most senior member among the accused, died in Kolkata on November 4.
“I was surprised to see the agencies bypassing my office. It is mandatory to seek the speaker’s permission before filing a charge sheet against a sitting legislator,” Banerjee had said before sending the second summons to the ED, asking its officers to appear before him.
On October 4, four junior CBI officers appeared before the speaker hours after a single-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court directed the agency to do so.
Justice Rajasekhar Mantha, while hearing a petition from the CBI, said the agency has to respond to the summons as the speaker is a Constitutional authority but also directed that no harsh action should be taken against the officers. The judge asked the CBI to file a report on the discussions with the speaker during the next court hearing.
The CBI and ED did not make any comment till Wednesday afternoon.
Tapas Roy could not be contacted despite efforts.
