Calcutta HC forms 3-member committee to probe Narada sting op issue

Kolkata, April 11: The Calcutta High Court on Monday formed a three-member committee to probe into the recent Narada sting operation against claiming to expose top leaders of the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) for 'accepting' bribes from scribes accepting as businessmen.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Manjula Chellur said this during a hearing on a batch of PILs on the controversial footage. The panel will include a CBI official, a police officer of the rank of inspector general and another official appointed by the court. The official of the IGP rank will be deputed by the DGP of the state police while the CBI officer will be deputed by the DIG of the CBI. The committee will work under the sourt's supervision. [Why Narada won't affect Mamata's party]

The names of the officials were, however, not announced.

The three-member body will go to Delhi and collect the tapes from Mathew Samuel, head of Narada news and the brain behind the sting operations.

Last week, TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee protested against the idea of keeping the Narada videos with the CBI, saying the investigation agency is often influenced by the party in power at the Centre.

The TMC leadership also announced on Saturday that the party will conduct an internal probe into the Narada issue. The announcement, however, did not convince the Opposition which said it was nothing but a eyewash since the party supremo and state Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was not ready to accept the allegations.

Samuel, too, expressed a similar viewpoint.

Oneindia News