More CBI men to probe Narada case

KOLKATA: The probe into the Narada sting operation was put on fast track following the visit of CBI special director Rakesh Asthana on Tuesday.
In a second meeting held on Wednesday, it was decided that a few more CBI officers may join the investigation. The agency’s top brass, which are planning to expedite the investigation in which a dozen Trinamool lawmakers have been accused, will now monitor the progress on a day-to-day basis.
An FIR in the case was filed on April 18 last year and the accused were charged under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and under Section 120B of the IPC for criminal conspiracy.
During a meeting at Nizam Palace on Wednesday, the CBI team placed a list of challenges they faced in the past year. According to sources, Asthana asked the investigators to stay in touch with the legal team in New Delhi. The team in Kolkata is also likely to get some officers well conversant with technology. The agency has found it challenging to get the metadata of the laptop in which the sting footages, carried out by Narada former boss Mathew Samuel, were stored after they were shot on an iPhone. CBI sources said the metadata, which worked almost like a footprint for the files stored in the device, got erased from the laptop after Samuel formatted it before submitting it to CBI.
The central investigating agency is also likely to induct some of the officials well conversant with money laundering and financial crime. The economic offences wing, anticorruption branch and the special crime branch are investigating cases which involve complex money trails. With Asthana asking the CBI officials to wrap up Ponzi firm cases as soon as possible, a team in New Delhi will now take stock of the progress in the probe every month.