Minister extortion call case: Police summon Mathew Samuel

MP | 16 April 2017 | Kolkata: The Kolkata Police summoned the Narada News CEO Mathew Samuel in connection with the incident in which a former Central minister received a call from Munchipara area in central Kolkata demanding extortion money of Rs 5 crore. The caller had threatened to post a video footage, in which Samuel was also found, in social networking site if the money was not given.

The Kolkata Police sent a communiqué to his house at Dwarka in Delhi asking him to be present in Munchipara police station on April 20. He has to be present before the Officer-In-Charge of the police station for interrogation in connection with the incident.

It was also stated in the communiqué that the police would submit before the Bankshall Court if he doesn't turn up to cooperate with the police for investigating the incident.

Sources said that Mathew has also given a reply to Kolkata Police stating that it would not be possible for him to turn up to the police station as he has been advised by doctors to take rest for the next few weeks.

It may be mentioned that Mathew went to the office of the Central Bureau of Investigation as he was summoned for questioning in connection with the Narada Sting operation. Supreme Court extended the time for the central investigating agency to submit its preliminary report in this connection to 30 days. The policemen from Munchipara police station now want to question Mathew for the sake of the investigation. His statement is essential as he was found in the video footage. It may be mentioned that on February 14, D P Yadav, the former minister from Bihar, had lodged a complaint alleging that he had been receiving threat calls demanding Rs 5 crore as extortion money.

Acting on a tip-off, the policemen from Munchipara police station went to a hotel near Sealdah Station and found a laptop, a cell phone and a bag containing different paper documents from a room in the hotel. Police found the video footages in the laptop