In 2014, Samuel Matthews, a freelance journalist, conducted a sting operation that showed 11 TMC ministers accepting cash from a fictitious company that sought favours in return.
In a setback to the Trinamool Congress (TMC), the Supreme Court refused to interfere with the West Bengal High Court’s decision that directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to investigate whether the ruling party’s leaders accepted cash as bribes.
“We have perused the impugned order in which it emerges that the high court took into consideration the materials which required holding of preliminary enquiry (PE) at the hands of the CBI. We find no infirmity with determinations of the high court as the rights of the petitioners are fully protected,” a bench led by Chief Justice of India JS Khehar said.
In 2014, Samuel Matthews, a freelance journalist, conducted a sting operation that showed 11 TMC ministers accepting cash from a fictitious company that sought favours in return. Matthews aired the footage in 2016 on his website Narada News, just before the TMC won the state elections that May, two years after the sting took place.
The sting was allegedly conducted using an iPhone, though the forensic laboratory in Chandigarh found no data on the phone using the technology.
The apex court also found it unfortunate that the ruling party of the state cast aspersions on the decision of the high court and rejected the petition accordingly. The SC allowed the state to withdraw its petition once the representing counsel expressed his independent willingness to tender an unqualified apology for raising such grounds.
“We are satisfied that the state transgressed the propriety of reasonableness and the grounds raised are most unfortunate and call for outright rejection,” the order read.
In an hour-long hearing, senior counsel Kapil Sibal, representing Suvendhu Adhikary, one of the subjects in the sting operation, suggested that the timing of the video was suspicious and objected to a CBI inquiry.
“I am open to an investigation, but not by the CBI. Have an SIT, I don’t mind,” Sibal submitted.
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