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The Calcutta High Court has granted interim bail to the four accused in the Narada sting operation case. The court had earlier stayed the interim bail granted to them by the CBI court and had put them under house arrest. The five-judge bench of Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal along with Justices IP Mukerji, Harish Tandon, Soumen Sen and Arijit Banerjee heard the matter and decided to grant interim bail. On May 21, Justice Banerjee favoured granting bail to the four, differing with Acting CJ Bindal on the matter. The Bench then sent the four to house arrest, and transferred the case to a larger Bench.
Hearing
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta objected to the grant of interim bail to the accused persons stating that they are influential persons, who can tamper with evidence or make public statements regarding this case or gather a mob whenever they are called for further investigation or the case is taken up for hearing.
The court, however found it fit and proper to grant bail to the accused namely Firhad Hakim, Madan Mitra, Sovan Chatterjee and Subrata Mukherjee subject to following conditions:
- Each accused shall execute a bail bond of `2 lakhs with two sureties of like amount
- The accused shall make themselves available for interrogation as and when required by the CBI, by virtual mode, keeping in mind the lockdown imposed in the state
- The accused shall not tamper with the evidence or attempt to intimidate or influence the witnesses
- The accused shall not give any press interview or make any public comments in connection with the cases
The court has directed the accused to file an undertaking by May 31 that they will comply with these conditions and stated that violation may entail cancellation of the interim relief granted.
The interim order is to continue until disposal of the proceedings or until further orders.
Background
On May 17, The CBI arrested TMC ministers Firhad Hakim and Subrata Mukherji, TMC MLA Madan Mitra and ex-Kolkata mayor Sovan Chatterjee in connection with a Narada sting operation. The sting operation was carried out by Narada News portal CEO Mathew Samuel in 2014, but the tapes that show as many as 12 leaders taking bribes were made public only in 2016 around the time of elections. Interestingly, among the 12 were Mukul Roy and Suvendu Adhikari who have since jumped ship to the BJP.
The bail granted by CBI court to the four accused was stayed by the Calcutta High Court. “We are not touching the merits of the controversy but the manner in which pressure was sought to be put will not inspire confidence of the people in the rule of law. As during the period when the arguments were heard, the order was passed by the Court below, we deem it appropriate to stay that order and direct that the accused person shall be treated to be in judicial custody till further orders,” the high court had said on May 18.
On May 21, Justice Banerjee favoured granting bail to the four, differing with Acting CJ Bindal on the matter. The Bench then sent the four to house arrest, and transferred the case to a larger Bench.
The CBI has also filed a plea seeking transfer of the case from the CBI court to the High Court alleging that the Special CBI Court had come under pressure to grant the four leaders interim bail, and said, “If this mobocracy is not checked by the constitutional court, tomorrow we may have a situation where a gangster is arrested and his henchmen gherao the CBI office.”
The order may be read here:
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