Kolkata Mayor's wife lodges police complaint against Narada CEO

Mayor Sovan Chatterjee and wife Ratna

IANS, Kolkata, June 19 : A case has been initiated under several offences including defamation against Narada News CEO Mathew Samuel following a complaint by Kolkata Mayor and West Bengal minister Sovan Chatterjee's wife Ratna, police said on Sunday.

The move comes after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday directed a probe into Narada sting operation which purportedly showed a host of high profile Trinamool Congressleaders including Chatterjee accepting wads of currency notes as "bribes" in return for allegedly doling out favours to a fictitious company.

"On the basis of Ratna Chatterjee's complaint, a case has initiated for several offences including forgery, defamation and criminal conspiracy," said a police officer.

The police complaint was filed by Ratna on Saturday.

"Baseless allegations have been made by the portal with the aim of bringing disrepute to my family and defame us. This has caused a lot of agony to us, so I filed the complaint seeking action against those responsible for it," Ratna told IANS.

The city police have constituted a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the sting which the chief minister described as "a provocation and conspiracy to create a hostile public reaction".

Reacting to the development, Samuel alleged it was a conspiracy to jail him.

"It's a conspiracy, it is a plan to put me in jail. I am discussing with my lawyers and also waiting for the decision by the Calcutta High Court," said Samuel.Hearing multiple public interest litigations seeking a probe into the sting operation, the Calcutta High Court on April 29 had directed forensic examination of the tapes and the equipments used to carry out the sting. The reports of the examinations are awaited.