Kolkata: Narada News editor-in-chief Mathew Samuel fears he will be arrested if he appears before the city police's SIT for questioning. His lawyer consul Arunava Ghosh on Monday moved Calcutta HC against the police summons.
"Despite Samuel repeatedly writing to the police requesting withdrawal of the summons till the pendency of litigations, the police have refused to pay heed. The police are acting as if they are above the court. So we brought the matter to the court's notice," Ghosh said. "The court has directed us to file an application, following which it will give a suitable order."
The SIT had issued summons to Samuel's twice under section 91 CrPC. Samuel's had replied back saying the matter is sub-judice in HC. The SIT has then moved the Banshall court seeking a court order to question him. The court has issued an ordered him to appear before SIT this week. Samuel's had moved court challenging this.
The SIT probe to unearth the "conspiracy" behind the sting comes after the state was legally advised that in 2014 even the Apex court had said that those behind such operations could not get blanket immunity from criminal prosecution if their actions showed that they had committed a crime. Their acts shall not stand obliterated only by a clamour that what they did was in the larger public good, it held. To further buttress it, the SIT has already questioned IPS officer S.M.H.Mirza and Kolkata deputy mayor (and Khanakul MLA) Iqbal Ahmed, both of whom reportedly told police they took Samuel's statement (that his company was interested to invest in Bengal) in good faith. Questions have already been raised about Samuel's purported "Dubai links" (his company is based in Dubai) and the timing of the probe - it was shot in the run-up to 2014 Lok Sabha but aired only before the 2016 assembly polls.
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