Probe will end witch-hunt, says Narada editor

NEARLY A YEAR AND A FEW DAYS AFTER THE NEWS SITE PUBLISHED THE STING OPERATION, THE HIGH COURT ORDERED A CBI PROBE INTO THE CHARGES

Bihar MP, Kolkata police raided Samuel’s Delhi home and office on February 14.

“They claimed to have found a laptop in a hotel somewhere and came after me trying to link me to the call. From the time I did the sting, I knew I would be harassed,” he said.

Narada News published the sting last year in March in which Samuel, posing as Santosh Shankaran, a businessman from Chennai, approached Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders from Parliamentarians to ministers in the West Bengal state government.

The investigations and sting operation, he said, started before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and continued for two years before an edited version was published online.

In April last year, the HC asked Samuel to hand over the tapes for safe custody.

“The matter, which has serious ramifications on the entire system if the information is true, … we feel the video tapes and device be kept in safe custody for meeting the ends of justice,” the bench headed by then chief justice Manjula Chellur observed. Samuel said he handed all evidence including 52 hours of video footage to the court.

“I have handed over everything to the court. The CBI should investigate all aspects,” he said.