Police search Delhi house, office of Narada News CEO

KOLKATA POLICE on Friday searched the Delhi residence and office of Mathew Samuel, the chief executive officer of Narada News in connection with an extortion call made to a former Bihar MP.

According police, they were investigating a case in which a person had allegedly called the MP and said he would leak a fake sting footage against him unless he paid Rs 5 crore. Acting on a tipoff, they had earlier seized a laptop from the room of Vikram Singh from a hotel in Muchipara, in central Kolkata. Vikram is absconding, police said.

While going through the laptop's contents, police allegedly found a video in which there was a man who, purportedly, resembled Mathew Samuel.

Last year, Narada News had conducted a purported sting operation which showed 11 Trinamool Congress leaders allegedly accepting bribe. Police said the current investigation was a separate case and not related to the purported sting operation. “From the laptop, we found footage that showed a person who looked liked Mathew Samuel. We had court permission to search his office in Delhi. Mathew was unavailable for questioning. The team will try to question him on Saturday”, said Joint CP (crime) Vishal Garg.

Matthew Samuel's lawyer approached Calcutta High Court on Friday. “My client had unearthed dishonesty of the state for which he is being harassed,” he said.