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CBI grills BJP leader Mukul Roy in Narada case

Roy was questioned for nearly two hours by the agency

Mukul Roy | PTI

Senior BJP leader Mukul Roy was questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation for nearly two hours on Wednesday in connection with the Narada sting tapes case.

The case is related to a sting operation conducted by the Narada News, in which some persons resembling leaders of the Trinamool Congress were seen accepting money ahead of the 2016 West Bengal Assembly elections.

Mukul Roy was a close aide of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee until his name cropped up in the Saradha chit fund scam. He was suspended from the TMC for six years.

Roy later resigned from the party and joined the BJP in November 2017. Since then he has been instrumental in many TMC leaders in the state switching sides and joining the saffron party.

Roy was questioned by the CBI a day after the probe agency quizzed TMC Rajya Sabha MP K.D. Singh on Tuesday in connection with the case.

The agency also called Mathew Samuels, the editor of Narada news, who had provided the recordings purportedly showing alleged payments received by politicians and senior bureaucrats of West Bengal Government.

The CBI had booked 12 top TMC leaders, including MPs and West Bengal ministers, and an IPS officer in connection with the case.

An FIR was lodged for alleged criminal conspiracy under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act dealing with bribery and criminal misconduct.

The maximum sentence for these crimes ranges from five to seven years of imprisonment.

With inputs from PTI