Narada chief held in Delhi, released

TT, Aug. 6: The immigration department at Delhi airport detained Mathew Samuel tonight on the basis of lookout notices that preceded a Calcutta High Court order stalling for the time being a police probe, but the Narada News chief editor was released hours later as Calcutta police withdrew the notices.

Late tonight Vishal Garg, joint police commissioner (special task force), said Calcutta police would abide by the high court order.

"Samuel is not being arrested. He was detained on the basis of lookout notices issued before the high court stay. We will abide by the high court order. A fax is being sent to Delhi police," he said.

Samuel, who had arrived around 7pm from Dubai, was allowed to leave at 10pm, based on an intimation from Calcutta police informing Delhi police and the immigration department that the two lookout notices had been withdrawn and he may be released.

Within minutes of the news of the detention becoming public, Samuel's lawyer Arunava Ghosh had said the move amounted to "contempt of the high court" as it had stayed till August 19 the probe into the sting carried out by Narada.

"We will move a contempt petition against the chief secretary, the home secretary and the commissioner of Calcutta police the moment the court opens on Monday. I am sending my junior to Lalbazar to serve a notice on the (Calcutta) police chief," Ghosh had said.

In the sting, made public before the Assembly elections, persons resembling several Trinamul leaders and an IPS officer were seen either accepting cash from Samuel, posing as the agent of a fictitious company, or directing him to people or places where the money had to be deposited.

"As soon as I landed at the airport from Dubai, immigration officials detained me saying two lookout notices had been issued against me by Calcutta police. I am in their custody right now and they told me that I would be handed over to a Calcutta police team that is on its way," Samuel had told The Telegraph in the evening.

On June 17, chief minister Mamata Banerjee had announced a probe into the "conspiracy" behind the Narada sting. The probe was being conducted by a Calcutta police special investigation team led by city police commissioner Rajeev Kumar. The SIT had sent three notices to Samuel asking him to appear for questioning.

As Calcutta High Court is hearing two petitions seeking a CBI probe into the sting, questions had been raised on the legality of the police probe. Yesterday, a division bench headed by Chief Justice Manjula Chellur had stayed till August 19 the police probe after going through a portion of the report on the Narada tapes' veracity from the Central Forensic Science Laboratory in Chandigarh.