Govt's sting probe

TT, Calcutta, June 17: Chief minister Mamata Banerjee today announced a government probe into the "conspiracy" behind "the sting operation", which she described as an "attempt to create a negative impact on the minds of voters".

Mamata did not mention Narada, the news portal that carried out a sting operation in which images of people resembling several Trinamul leaders accepting cash from a journalist posing as the agent of a fictitious company were shown.

Chief secretary Basudeb Banerjee announced that Calcutta police commissioner Rajeev Kumar would lead the investigation.

"During the elections, it was not possible to conduct any investigation into the sting operation, but our party MPs Sudip Banerjee, Kalyan Banerjee and Subrata Bakshi held an internal probe. They left the decision to me. Today, I had a detailed discussion with the chief secretary and the home secretary. The government will probe the conspiracy behind the attempt to create a negative impact on the minds of voters," the chief minister told a news conference at Nabanna this evening.

"I want the truth to come out," she added.

Mathew Samuel, the chief editor of Narada News who carried out the sting, told ABP Ananda tonight that the allegation of conspiracy was "baseless".

Calcutta High Court is hearing a case seeking a CBI probe into the Narada issue. The court has sent the tapes to Hyderabad for an authenticity test. The case, which was supposed to be heard today, will be taken up after two weeks.

BJP leader Rahul Sinha said: "The sting was conducted by people from outside the state. How can the Calcutta police commissioner investigate this matter? Had she (Mamata) been really serious about the probe, she would have sought the CBI's intervention."

Congress veteran Abdul Mannan accused Mamata of "confusing" people.

CPM MLA Sujan Chakraborty echoed him. "The Justice Shyamal Sen commission (to probe the Saradha scam and identify and compensate depositors) report was never made public. The same will happen now," Chakraborty said.