Now, Saugata gets CBI’s summons in Narada case

Kolkata: The CBI has summoned veteran Trinamool Congress MP and the party’s deputy leader in Lok Sabha,

Saugata Roy

, for questioning in the Narada case. Roy will have to appear before the investigating agency at its Nizam Palace office at 11am on Wednesday.

In the past week, CBI has questioned two other Trinamool Lok Sabha MPs — Sultan Ahmed and Satabdi Roy — in the Narada and Saradha cases respectively. The Enforcement Directorate, which is also probing the Narada case, has summoned Sultan Ahmed to appear before it on Thursday. Kolkata mayor Sovan Chatterjee, also summoned by the ED in the Narada case, was on Monday granted a two-week reprieve from appearance because of his busy schedule.

The back-to-back summons come at a time the Mamata Banerjee-led government is battling it out with the BJP-led Centre on multiple fronts. “We will not bow our heads to the nefarious schemes of the Centre,” the chief minister told a public meeting in Digha. Party national spokesperson Derek O’Brien termed it “political vendetta” and even raised the matter in the opposition all-party meeting in New Delhi.

Roy wasn’t available for comment. According to sources, he is consulting senior lawyers and is expected to seek time from the central agency till the forthcoming Parliament session is over.

Besides being the deputy leader of his party in Parliament, he is also part of the standing committees on finance, defence and public undertakings.

CBI sources maintained that Roy will be asked the same set of questions that was put before Sultan Ahmed, and before him his brother and Kolkata deputy mayor Iqbal Ahmed. “The questions will include why he accepted cash and for what purpose. Subsequent questions will be based on his initial statements,” a senior CBI officer said.

Sultan Ahmed, sources said, didn’t deny that he had accepted cash from Mathew Samuel, but claimed he took it as a donation and deposited it in the party funds. He has been asked to furnish evidence for it.

CFSL Chandigarh had authenticated 47 clips in the Narada footage. These include footage of people resembling some senior Trinamool leaders including the party’s Lok Sabha MPs Sultan Ahmed, Saugata Roy, Prasun Banerjee, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Aparoopa Poddar and Rajya Sabha MP Mukul Roy, among others.

According to CBI sources, Narada boss Mathew Samuel is also likely to face CBI sleuths on Wednesday. He has been primarily asked by investigators to identify the main accused. Samule is also likely to face questions on certain unpublished portions of the tape.

On Tuesday, sources said, Sultan Ahmed and his brother Iqbal turned down a CBI request to undergo voice sample tests necessary to establish the authenticity of their voices on the tapes. The CBI may take legal steps to secure the voice samples, the sources said.