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    Narada case: No permission taken from me before arrest, says Speaker Biman Banerjee

    Synopsis

    Asked about TMC’s claim, BJP spokesperson Shamik Bhattacharya said: “We cannot comment about CBI’s investigations. We have no power to control the central agency.”

    narada case protest cbi  aniANI
    TMC supporters stage a protest over the arrest of party leaders in connection with the Narada scam case, at Raj Bhawan in Kolkata on Monday,
    West Bengal’s ruling All India Trinamool Congress has termed the arrest of ministers and other party leaders by the CBI as "political vendetta and illegal”.

    TMC MP Saugata Roy called the arrest “politics of vengeance” by the BJP, while spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said the party heading the central government was still not able to accept defeat in the assembly polls.

    Speaker Biman Banerjee told ET his consent was not sought before the arrest. “Arrest of the MLAs without permission of the speaker of the Bengal assembly is completely illegal,” Banerjee said. “The state government has been kept in the dark. No permission has been taken from me. The court had sought the (speaker’s) opinion on this and I have also informed them (the court).”

    The state advocate general has informed the high court about the matter, he said.

    Asked about TMC’s claim, BJP spokesperson Shamik Bhattacharya said: “We cannot comment about CBI’s investigations. We have no power to control the central agency.”

    Former TMC MLA Sovon Chatterjee, who had defected to the BJP but left it just ahead of the election, was also arrested on Monday. He is among the five people — the fifth is former IPS officer SMH Mirza — against whom the CBI has readied charge sheets after taking approval for their prosecution from Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar in the so-called Narada case.

    “There were criminal charges against all the accused. It has been investigated and then the charge sheet was filed. So, the need for taking permission from the speaker was not absolutely necessary. Governor has given permission and he did the right thing,” Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, a veteran Calcutta High Court advocate and CPM leader, told ET.

    A CBI team reached transport minister Hakim’s residence at Chetla in South Kolkata around 9 am on Monday morning, even as central security force personnel cordoned off the area. He was taken to the CBI’s office at Nizam Palace. While leaving his house with the CBI team, Hakim said: “I have been arrested in connection with the Narada case. We will seek help from the court.”



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