KOLKATA: The CBI on Monday questioned senior Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee for two hours in the iCore case, the development setting off a chain of events that saw central agencies re-emerging as flashpoints in the rocky Bengal government-Centre relationship.
Three separate developments followed in quick succession as the CBI team left state industries minister Chatterjee’s Camac Street office around 2pm. One, Bengal assembly speaker Biman Banerjee shot off summons to two senior ED and CBI officers, asking them to appear before him on September 22 to explain why they had filed Narada chargesheets against three MLAs (two of them, Subrata Mukherjee and Firhad Hakim, ministers) without informing him. Two, the Centre asked the NIA to probe the crude bomb blasts on September 8 at BJP MP Arjun Singh’s home. And, three, the ED summoned state law minister Moloy Ghatak in the illegal coal-mining scam.
Monday’s developments came in the wake of the ED questioning Trinamool Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee for nine hours last Monday and sending him a fresh summons to appear for questioning next week. Three Bengal assembly constituen-cies, including Bhowanipore (where CM Mamata Banerjee is a candidate), are going for bypolls on September 30.
Three CBI officers reached Shilpa Sadan’s sixth floor around noon on Monday after Chatterjee told the agency he was available for questioning at his office. The officers wanted to know the reason behind his presence at a 2011 programme, where he reportedly “endorsed” the iCore group.
“I was given charge of the industries and IT departments in the first three months of 2011. There were many companies that wanted to set up industries in the state, which would have helped job-generation. They used to come to the department. How would I know if iCore was a Ponzi firm or not? That is the Sebi and the RBI’s job. I cannot the check balance sheet of every company that comes to Shilpa Sadan with invites,” Chatterjee explained later.
“My job was to ensure that the state got investments and jobs and I did that. I said the same thing to the CBI and I believe they got the answers they were looking for. They have shown courtesy in responding to my request and came here. I had assured them that I would share whatever information I had about the company and I did that,” he said.
Speaker Banerjee’s summons reached the ED and CBI offices in Kolkata in the afternoon. The letter asked CBI deputy superintendent of police Satyendra Singh and ED assistant director Rathin Biswas why chargesheets had been filed against Subrata Mukherjee, Firhad Hakim and Madan Mitra — all sitting MLAs — under the Prevention of Corruption Act (1988) without informing the assembly speaker, as mandated by Section 19 of the act.
Their action had “denigrated” the state legislature, the letter said, asking both officers to appear before the speaker at 1pm on September 22. “There have been cases against MLAs in the past and the CBI has always taken the speaker’s permission. The CBI, for instance, sought Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla’s permission in another case related to a Bengal MP. This is derogatory to the constitutional position of the speaker,” Banerjee said.
A Union ministry of home affairs letter asking the NIA to probe the bombing at BJP MP Singh’s Bhatpara home on September 8 reached the state government around the same time. State cops have already arrested two persons, including a minor, based on CCTV camera footage and lodged attempt-to-murder and explosives cases.
A group had stepped out of Mazdoor Bhavan (Singh’s office-cum-home) and were seen involved in a brawl with a local youth before stepping inside again, officials said. The local youth then returned and hurled the bombs. The state CID, too, had conducted a preliminary probe but did not find anything beyond this. But Singh and assembly opposition leader Suvendu Adhikari called it an attempt on Singh’s life and demanded a central agency probe.
The ED summons to state law minister Ghatak rounded off the day’s developments; it called him for questioning at its Delhi office on September 14. Ghatak, however, said: “Even a child now understands that this is totally politically motivated. The probe has been going on for several years and suddenly they find a link with me. This is ridiculous.”
(with inputs from Sanjib Chakraborty and Debasish Konar)
