Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar accords sanction for prosecution of top TMC leaders

Kolkata: West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Sunday accorded sanction for prosecution of Firhad Hakim, Subrata Mukherjee, Madan Mitra and Sovan Chatterjee, all the former ministers in the previous Mamata Banerjee government.

“Governor (Jagdeep Dhankhar) accorded sanction for prosecution of Firhad Hakim, Subrata Mukherjee, Madan Mitra and Sovan Chatterjee, being appointing authority of Ministers@MamataOfficial under Article 164 & thus competent authority

“Media reports that sanction was for being MLA is incorrect,” Mr Dhankhar stated in a Twitter post.

However, it did not mention in which case the four former ministers have been named to come under prosecution from the CBI which was also probing the Naradha scam case.

Of the four to come under prosecution, Mr Hakim, Mr Mukherjee and Mr Mitra have been re-elected in the recently held poll as the TMC candidates. Mr Hakim and Mr Mukherjee will be sworn in as the cabinet ministers of the 3rd Mamata Banerjee government at a swearing in ceremony on Monday.

Sovan Chatterjee, former minister and city mayor had joined the BJP and also quit the party before the election.

“The governor accorded sanction for prosecution for the reason that all of them at the relevant time of commission crime were holding the position of ministers in the government of West Bengal under article 164 of the constitution,” a statement from the Raj Bhawan said.

“The sanction came to be accorded by the governor after CBI had made a request and made available entire documentation relevant to the case to the governor and he infolded his power under article 163 and 164 of the constitution,” it added.