Rajya Sabha privilege notice to CBI for raiding D Bandyopadhyay’s house

NEW DELHI: Rajya Sabha Secretariat has sent a breach of privilege notice to the Central Bureau of Investigation for raiding the house of D Bandyopadhyay, a Trinamool Congress member of the Upper House, in connection with a probe into parliamentarians allegedly inflating travel bills for reimbursement. “We have received a breach of privilege notice…an explanation will soon be furnished,” a senior CBI official said on Tuesday.

A raid was conducted at the house of Bandyopadhyay on June 13 and he was summoned to the CBI Headquarters for questioning on June 16 and was quizzed for several hours.

The MP, in a complaint to the Rajya Sabha vice-chairman, questioned how a raid could be conducted at his house and claimed it was a breach of his privilege. Countering this, CBI argued it needs no permission from the Rajya Sabha vice-chairman before booking a sitting member in a case or conducting a search as the same has to be shrouded in secrecy and it only needs to inform the vicechairman if the Rajya Sabha MP is to be questioned.

“The searches at his residence were conducted after taking necessary permissions and in accordance with the rules and regulations laid down,” a CBI official said. The agency had on June 13 conducted raids at nine places, including the premises of three Rajya Sabha MPs and three former members of the Upper House, on allegation that they used fake e-tickets to claim full payment on companion air tickets from Rajya Sabha Secretariat.

The case was lodged under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act. CBI has alleged that Bandopadhyay had presented four tickets worth Rs 1.28 lakh to claim leave travel concession (LTC) whereas the actual payment he made to Air India was only Rs 2,000. Denying this, the member said the fraud may have been perpetrated by travel agents who booked tickets on his behalf.