Probe will end witch-hunt, says Narada channel CEO

Narada news editor and chief executive officer Mathew Samuel, the Calcutta high court order on Friday spells relief.

Samuel, who is admitted in hospital for an undisclosed surgery, told Hindustan Times over phone that he expects some reprieve from an alleged witchhunt by the Kolkata police that forced Narada news operations to shut down in Delhi last month.

Nearly one year and a few days after the news website Narada News published a sting operation online purportedly showing 11 ruling Trinamool Congress leaders accepting money, the high court ordered a CBI probe into the charges.

“I haven’t even seen the order yet. I have just heard about it… Because of their witch-hunt, 45 people have lost their jobs,” Samuel said. “The Kolkata police have been harassing everyone, from my journalist colleagues to my driver. They picked up my driver and asked him things like how much do I drink or if I have any girl friends,” he said.

Samuel said Narada News was forced to shut down after the Kolkata police sealed its office in New Delhi last month. “It is a small website, some colleagues have been updating it using their mobiles. But the operation as such has shut down. The false cases against me have chased away investors,” he added. “If there is a fair and impartial inquiry, a lot will come out.”

Investigating an alleged extortion call made to a former 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 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.

Among them, parents of IES school students have directly approached the Bombay high court to appeal against a decision by the Mumbai divisional panel, as the revision panel wasn’t functioning at the time. But they, too, will now be redirected to the revision panel.

Officials said reactivating the panel will clear all the pending cases. “Schools were hesitating to approach divisional panels because the appellate authority wasn’t functioning, so there was no mechanism to challenge the orders,” said Chavan.

So how does one approach the panel?

If a fee hike goes over the 15% increase proposed by the school management and approved by the Parents Teachers Association (PTA) executive committee, which is compulsory in all schools, then schools or parents can approach the divisional fee regulatory panels (or committees) (DFRCS).

Within 30 days of the divisional committee’s decision, either of the parties can appeal to the revision panel for a review. The orders passed by the revision panel will be final and binding on all the parties for a period of two academic years, after which, private schools can once again propose changes to their fee structures.

Other members of the panel include retired persons holding the post of director of education or equivalent post in the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) or Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) or other such boards, and the joint secretary of the directorate of education, Pune. A chartered accountant (CA) will also be included.

The list includes 482 people who are not constitutional functionaries such as elected representatives, bureaucrats and judges of the high court and lower courts.

The bench was also irked to note that police protection was being provided free of cost to people who can easily afford to pay the requisite dues to the government. “You have categories under which some people are paying and others are not,” said the bench. “This reflects complete non-application of mind.”

Expressing the need to review the entire list, the bench said it was also essential to review the decision as regards certain nonpayment categories.

During the course of the hearing, Vagyani informed the court that out of total outstanding dues towards police protection (Rs21 crore in Mumbai), the department has recovered Rs15 crore, and the balance was under recovery. In other parts of the state, dues of Rs6.85 crore are outstanding from the people who have been provided police protection.

Vagyani also assured the court that the higher officials from the police and home department will review the list and also take a relook at the entire scheme. He informed the bench that the department has already taken a decision to not provide police protection to private individuals unless they deposit a certain amount in advance.

However, the Opposition remained skeptical about the government’s growth story.

“The agriculture growth rate is thanks to rain Gods and not government policies. Despite that productivity of two of the state’s main crops, sugarcane and cotton, has come down,” said former finance minister Jayant Patil.

“The growth in industry is too modest with none of the jazz made during Make in Maharashtra evident in the report. More importantly, the feeling one gets is that real data post-demonetisation has not been considered,’’ Patil said.

The report’s figures on public finances, including revenue receipts from sales tax, stamp duty and registrations, are drawn from last year’s budget estimates and not updated.

The real picture on public finances will unfold on Saturday with revised estimates for 2016-17.

Similarly, the data on industry, especially on the performance of medium- and small-sector industries, is dated to September 2015 and not updated.

On the agriculture front, it is worrisome that while productivity of food grains has increased, area sown for cropping has not registered a real hike.

The area sown for khariff crops was just a per cent more and for rabi area it was 5 per cent less than last year.

Experts said this indicates higher cultivation costs that are become unaffordable for farmers with no corresponding hike in farm incomes.

The probe sets the stage for fresh confrontation between Banerjee – who emerged as the fulcrum of anti-bjp protests over demonetisation – and the Centre. This is the third big scam – after the Saradha and Rose Valley scandals – that involves top Trinamool leaders.

The probe comes two years before the general elections and gives ample time for opposition parties in the state – the BJP, Congress or Left -- to gear up its machinery and leverage this issue against the Trinamool.

Banerjee, for her part, went on the offensive and called the entire episode a conspiracy hatched by the BJP. At a press conference in Kolkata hours later, she said her party would approach the Supreme Court against the order. “The entire matter is a grand conspiracy. The footage was also released from the BJP office,” she said.

But despite her belligerent tone, the probe might also alter equations in Parliament where the Trinamool is likely to be more supportive of the government’s legislative agenda.

The Narada sting operation was aired just a fortnight before the 2016 West Bengal assembly elections and featured a dozen Trinamool leaders purportedly accepting cash from the representative of a fictitious company. Seven Lok Sabha MPS of the party, three top state ministers and the mayor of Kolkata were seen as taking money on behalf of the party.

The timing of the ‘expose’ triggered a torrent of allegations from Mamata Banerjee who described it as a conspiracy. The Central Forensic Science Laboratory has ruled that the videos were genuine.

But despite the criticism, Mamata won a sweeping victory in the assembly elections that followed. The Trinamool Congress is the fourth-largest party in the Lok Sabha and has a sizeable presence in the Rajya Sabha.

The Trinamool is already facing embarrassment over the imprisonment of two Lok Sabha MPS, Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Tapas Paul in connection with the Rose Valley scam that involves about Rs 15,000 crore -six times larger than the Saradha scandal of 2013.

The Narada scam may see the CBI taking a few more MPS in custody, thereby depleting the Trinamool’s strength in Lok Sabha. The development also comes amid renewed Opposition efforts to stitch a pact against the BJP. Although Banerjee is per sonally not involved in any of the scam allegations, her image may also be affected as her close lieu tenants have come under the CB scanner.

The Mamata Banerjee gov ernment struck back at the CEO of naradanews.com, Mathew Samuel. Kolkata Police slapped criminal charges against him and summoned him for interro gation. But the court ruled tha the police could not take steps against him as the matter was being heard.

The extent of the Narada sting allegations is far lower than Rose Valley or Saradha scandals, run ning into just a few lakhs in bribe offered. Banerjee also scoffed a this on Friday, saying “Such meagre amounts as Rs 1 lakh or 2 lakh do not matter at all. Look a UP and find out how much was spent there,” she said.

But unlike previous allega tions, the sting purportedly cap tured top leaders and ministers accepting bribe on video, char ges that might prove more diffi cult for the Trinamool Congress to fight off.

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

“I have a single point agenda which is development … I wil ensure 100% to offer better servi ces to the people,” he said in an interview to Hindustan Times.

Rawat’s appointment is viewed as a sign of the RSS’S clout in the Centre and BJP ruled state governments. He and two others before him — Prime Minister Modi held the position of Gujarat CM for four terms and Manoharlal Khattar took over the Haryana top job in 2014 — were full-time workers of the RSS, the BJP’S ideological men tor. Rawat’s immediate task wil be to select his council from more than four dozen claimants for ministerial berths. Besides him the Uttarakhand cabinet can have no more than 11 ministers

“All 57 candidates who won the assembly elections belong to the BJP. Ours is a cadre-based party and no decision is taken alone. Distribution of portfolios too will be done with due consen of the legislators and nationa party leaders,” he said.

Rawat, a Thakur, was one o Shah’s three deputies in UP where the BJP swept the 2014 elections. Born into a soldier’s family, he took an unconven tional step to join politics. “My father wanted me to take up a career in the army but I chose politics,” he said.