Image Courtesy:indiatoday.in
The Calcutta High Court has ordered house arrest for four of the accused in the Narada sting case. The Bench, comprising Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal and Justice Arijit Banerjee, was reportedly split on the subject of granting bail.
TMC ministers Firhad Hakim and Subrata Mukherji, TMC MLA Madan Mitra and ex-Kolkata mayor Sovan Chatterjee who was previously a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had all been arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday. Following their arrests, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had visited the Nizam Plaza office of the CBI and stayed there till the men were granted bail by a special CBI court. But the CBI moved the Calcutta High Court, which in turn stayed the CBI court’s bail order late on Monday itself.
Since then, the HC has been hearing the matter, even as Mukherjee, Chatterjee and Mitra were admitted to the SSKM Hospital’s Woodburn Ward, while Hakim remained in Presidency Jail. During the hearing at the High Court, the matter of Mamata Banerjee’s presence at the CBI office and the Law minister’s presence in the CBI Special Court’s complex were repeatedly brought up, as was the matter of protests outside the CBI office and the Governor’s residence. Hearing could not take place on Thursday due to “unavoidable circumstance”, but resumed on Friday.
According to LiveLaw, while Justice Banerjee was in favour of granting interim bail, ACJ Bindal was in favour of placing the accused under house arrest. The matter was therefore referred to a larger bench while the accused were placed under house arrest, where they will be provided all medical amenities. However, the bench declined the request made by the counsel for the accused to be released on interim bail until a larger bench decides on the subject.
According to LiveLaw, senior advocate Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi argued, “These are ministers, MLAs. There is no flight risk,” and that they have hitherto cooperated with the investigation. But Justice Banerjee reportedly responded saying, “One of the members of this bench thought it fit to grant interim bail. The other member of the bench did not agree. So, this point of interim bail has to be considered by the larger bench. In the meantime, considering pandemic situation, house arrest has been given.”
As Madan Mitra is an MLA, the court has granted him permission to access files and hold meetings via video-conferencing with officials, so that he can continue to discharge his duties.
TO BE UPDATED WITH ORDER COPY
Related:
CBI arrests TMC leaders in Narada sting case
Calcutta HC stays bail to Narada sting accused