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Saradha-Narada fallout: How 2 scandals rewrote Mukul Roy’s political destiny
The passing of Mukul Roy marks a pivotal chapter in West Bengal politics, tracing his journey from co-founding the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC to his later defection to the BJP amid corruption controversies.
While his colleagues were arrested, Mukul Roy, though questioned by the agency, had managed to avoid handcuffs, raising eyebrows within his own party. (File image)
The passing of Mukul Roy marks the end of an era in West Bengal’s political history. Once the inseparable “second-in-command” to Mamata Banerjee, Roy was the organisational backbone of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) from its inception in 1998.
Roy passed away at a private hospital in Kolkata early Monday. He was 71.
For years, Mamata Banerjee and Mukul Roy, the co-founders of the TMC, built the party from the ground up, but later this bond was slowly shattered by two corruption scandals.
However, his legacy was shadowed by two of the state’s biggest alleged corruption scandals: Saradha and Narada.
What started as a legal battle with central agencies like the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) slowly turned into a wall of mistrust. While his colleagues were arrested, Mukul Roy, though questioned by the agency, had managed to avoid handcuffs, raising eyebrows within his own party.
Later, he defected to the TMC’s biggest rival, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Saradha shadow on Mukul Roy’s political career
The first tremors felt by the TMC emerged from the alleged Saradha Ponzi scam, a Rs 2,500 crore scandal in which lakhs of investors were defrauded.
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Roy’s influence began to cloud in 2014 when CBI uncovered “unusual relaxations” in a deal between the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) and a Saradha-owned travel company.
On his part, Roy pointed out that he was not the railway minister when the Saradha deal was struck, effectively distancing himself to protect his legal standing.
In January 2015, Roy underwent a four-hour CBI interrogation. Crucially, while other TMC leaders like Madan Mitra and Kunal Ghosh ended up in handcuffs during the investigation, Roy walked out a free man.
The Narada Sting: ‘Talk to Mirza’
While the Saradha scam was about paper trails, the Narada sting operation, made public in 2016, provided devastating visuals. Shot in 2014 by journalist Mathew Samuel, the footage showed senior TMC leaders accepting bundles of cash. However, Roy was not seen accepting cash directly on camera in the Narada footage.
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He was purportedly heard telling the operative, “You talk to Mirza,” allegedly referring to IPS officer S M H Mirza. Mirza was later filmed accepting money allegedly on Roy’s instructions.
In 2019, CBI took Mirza to Roy’s Delhi residence to reenact the alleged handover of funds. Despite being an accused under the Prevention of Corruption Act, Roy and Suvendu Adhikari remained free while colleagues like Firhad Hakim and Subrata Mukherjee were taken into custody.
For Mukul Roy, the “Master Strategist,” these scandals were the beginning of the end of his life as a Mamata loyalist as he defected to the BJP.
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