The CBI has made its first arrest in the Narada sting operation case .
IPS officer S.M.H. Mirza was arrested and taken to a special CBI court in Kolkata on Thursday.
Mr. Mirza was one of the initial persons with whom journalist Mathew Samuel allegedly established contact as a Chennai based businessman.
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Mr. Mirza was seen taking wads of cash in the purported video, sitting in a red sofa, allegedly shot by Mr. Samuel’s team.
He was seen in the video having a long conversation with a person, apparently from Mr. Samuel’s team.
Mr. Mirza was seen saying that he arranged “60 for him”, allegedly referring to Mukul Roy, now BJP’s key face in the State. However, Mr. Roy was TMC’s key leader in 2014, when the Narada sting operation was conducted.
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The video was released right before the 2016 Assembly election.
In the purported video, Mr. Roy can also be seen saying that “I spoke to Mirza. You [the interviewer] talk to him.”
Several Trinamool Congress [TMC] leaders were seen taking cash in the purported video and the prominent ones were Subrata Mukherjee, Saugata Roy, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Aparupa Poddar, Prasun Banerjee and late Sultan Ahmed, besides others.
The other person who was seen accepting cash in the video was Sovan Chatterjee, TMC’s turncoat Mayor who recently joined the BJP.
Mr. Mirza’s counsel is expected to move a bail plea in the CBI court.