YouTuber Dhruv Rathee on Sunday tweeted screenshots taken from BJP's YouTube channel of a sting operation that targetted Mukul Roy and Suvendu Adhikari, which promptly went viral on the micro-blogging site.
Four years ago in 2016, BJP's YouTube had shared a video of a sting operation conducted by journalist Matthew Samuels, the CEO of Narada News. The tapes show Samuels, posing as a businessman, purportedly offering money to 11 Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders.
Then TMC leaders Mukul Roy and Suvendu Adhikari were two of those 11 prominent faces in the video.
The BJP had even organised mass protests across Bengal demanding the resignation of Mukul Roy, who was an MP at that time.
Dhruv Rathee's tweet dwelt on this and comes just days after TMC strongman Suvendu Adhikari quit the party and joined the BJP.
He tweeted, "4 years ago, BJP had posted sting operation of these two politicians caught taking bribes. Both Mukul Roy and Suvendhu Adhikari have now joined BJP happily."
The tweet went viral on the micro-blogging site and has gathered over 7,500 retweets and 31,000-plus likes.
Here are some of the reactions of Twitterati:
BJP deletes Narada 'tapes scandal' video from YouTube channel?
Many users also claimed that the video has now been deleted from the BJP YouTube channel after the tweet went viral.
Latest development in Narada 'tapes scandal'
The Enforcement Directorate (ED), which is investigating the money laundering angle in the Narada tapes scandal, has sent reminders to the accused TMC leaders and BJP''s Mukul Roy to provide details of their bank accounts and other assets, agency officials said in July.
The notices were sent to them before the commencement of the lockdown in March but the information sought has not been received yet, they said.
"We have now sent reminders to them and all of them have assured that they will reply shortly," the ED sources said.
The anti-money laundering probe agency has asked the accused politicians to furnish the details for the last seven years.
Apart from the ED, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has also been probing the scandal.
Narada 'tapes scandal' background
Some of the top Trinamool Congress leaders accused in the case are West Bengal ministers Firhad Hakim, Subrata Mukherjee and Suvendu Adhikari, former minister Madan Mitra, Lok Sabha MPs Saugata Roy, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar and Aparupa Poddar. They have been interrogated by both agencies.
Sultan Ahmed, the former party MP and an accused in the case, died in September 2017.
BJP leaders Mukul Roy and Sovan Chatterjee, a former Mayor of Kolkata, also figure in the list of accused in the Narada case when they were with the TMC.
Roy joined the BJP in November 2017, while Sovan Chatterjee switched over to the saffron camp last year.
A sting operation was carried out by Mathew Samuel, CEO of the Narada News portal, in 2014. Some senior TMC leaders and an IPS officer were purportedly seen accepting money from the representatives of a fictitious company in return for favours.
However, the sting video footages were uploaded on the news portal before the West Bengal Assembly elections in 2016, creating a furor.
The only person to have been arrested in the case is IPS officer S M H Mirza who was later released on bail. Mirza was the superintendent of police of Burdwan district when the sting operation was conducted.
Sources said Chatterjee, former city mayor, has already submitted the details of his bank accounts and other assets to the ED.
(With Inputs From PTI)