Minsters Subrata Mukherjee, Firhad Hakim, former Kolkata Mayor Sovan Chatterjee and Trinamool Congress MP Madan Mitra have been arrested by the CBI in connection with the case.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday arrested two West Bengal ministers - Subrata Mukherjee and Firhad Hakim - Trinamool Congress member Madan Mitra and former Kolkata mayor Souvan Chatterjee in connection with the Narada massacre. CBI officials visited their home on Monday morning and brought leaders to question them at their office at Kolamata's Nagam Palace.
All four leaders will be arraigned in court later in the day. They are detained under sections 120b of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sections 7 and 13 (1) (a) 13 (1) (b) of the Anti-Corruption Act.
"The CBI did not like us (for the arrest of these people). If they are arrested, it is illegal. The first approval of the Speaker of the Legislature is required, but it has not been taken. This was not done democratically," said West Bengal conference spokesman Bim Banerjee.
This comes after West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar last week granted the CBI permission to prosecute them.
Chatterjee was a member of the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC), but joined the Baratiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2019. He also left the BJP after being denied a ticket at the convention polling station in his Behala East constituency.
Mitra, on the other hand, won the Kamarhati seat in West Bengal in the recently concluded convention elections.
"We condemn this. This is a state of revenge," said TMC spokesman Kunal Ghosh.
The BJP said it had nothing to do with the arrests. "We have nothing to say. The IBJP has nothing to do with this," said party spokesman Samik Bhattacharjee.
The case is about a dispute that erupted ahead of the 2016 general election after the Narada News site uploaded a series of videos allegedly showing dozens of top TMC leaders earning money with the intention of getting help from a fake company.
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