The Calcutta High Court on Monday set up a three-member committee to keep evidence from the so-called sting operation by Narada News “in safe custody”. The court has asked the news website to approach the panel and hand over the videos that purportedly show Trinamool Congress leaders accepting bribes.

The court had earlier directed the website’s editor Mathew Samuel to provide the company’s details along with the recordings and the devices used to capture them. However, the court on Monday suggested that the videotapes and devices be put into more secure hands, especially since Samuel had said he feared for his life and property while the incriminating material was still in his possession.

The panel comprises a senior high court official, a local deputy inspector general of the Central Bureau of Investigation and an officer of the rank of inspector-general belonging to the West Bengal Police, PTI reported.

In March, weeks before the first phase of the West Bengal Assembly elections, Narada News released videos that purportedly showed several TMC leaders accepting cash in return for promising to grant favours to a fictitious company.