Narada probe ED asks 3 TMC leaders to submit documents

The Enforcement Directorate has sought documents from three Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders in connection with its inquiry into the 2016 Narada sting operation. Sources said the agency has asked state minister Firhad Hakim, Howrah MP Prasoon Bandyopadhyay, and former minister Madan Mitra for information about their income and expenditure.

A video of the sting operation was released just before the 2016 state elections. TMC leaders, including MPs and ministers, were allegedly seen accepting bribes on camera. The CBI and ED then started investigating the case. The ED has registered a case against 14 entities, including a category of unidentified persons, apart from the 13 named in the CBI complaint for alleged money laundering. The 13 are Madan Mitra, Mukul Roy (now with the BJP), Saugata Roy, Sultan Ahmed (died in 2017), Iqbal Ahmed, Kakoli Ghosh, Prasun Bandyopadhyay, Suvendu Adhikari, Sovan Chatterjee (now in the BJP), Subrata Mukherjee, Firhad Hakim, Aparupa Poddar, and IPS officer Syed Hussain Mirza.

Meanwhile, the CBI has arrested an accused in connection with its investigation into a Kolkata-based company running a Ponzi scheme.

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The managing director of Angel Agritech Group of Companies allegedly conspired with other directors of the firm to illegally collect approximately Rs 454.54 crore from investors under various fraudulent schemes on the assurance of paying them high returns on maturity. Sheikh Nazubuulla fled after cheating the investors, the agency added.

The accused was produced in the court of the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate in Baruipur in South 24 Parganas, and remanded him in police custody for 10 days.

“The accused, Sk. Nazubuulla, Managing Director of Ms Angel Agritech Group of Companies has been arrested,” said an official.