The CBI office in Kolkata witnessed high drama on Monday morning as the agency arrested two Bengal ministers, a Trinamool MLA and another former TMC leader in the Narada scam case.
Political temperatures as rose as chief minister Mamata Banerjee landed at the CBI office to support of her ministers, who were earlier picked by the CBI for questioning. The CBI had launched raids and picked up TMC heavyweights and ministers Firhad Hakim, Shobhandeb Chattopadhyay, Subrata Mukherjee and MLA Madan Mitra in its probe on the Narada sting case.
Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankar had given permission to the CBI for the prosecution of these TMC leaders. The Governor said he had the authority to grant sanction not because the four leaders were MLAs but because they were ministers sworn in by him in 2011.
All four were ministers in the previous Mamata Banerjee government when the Narada bribery tapes were released in 2014.
Along with the TMC leaders, former Kolkata Mayor Sovan Chatterjee was also picked up by the CBI.