Narada case: CBI court grants interim bail to Bengal ministers, Calcutta HC overturns order

The high court will hear the plea elaborately on Wednesday, until then the four accused have been remanded in judicial custody

Police force deployed outside a court where CBI was producing TMC leaders, arrested in connection with Narada case, in Calcutta on Monday.: PTI Photo

Legal Correspondent   |   TT  |  Calcutta   |  18.05.21 ;  A special CBI court here granted interim bail to Bengal ministers and two others in the Narada case, but within hours, Calcutta High Court overturned the order.

The CBI had arrested ministers Subrata Mukherjee and Firhad Hakim, Trinamul Congress MLA Madan Mitra and former Calcutta mayor Sovan Chatterjee earlier in the day.

A high court bench headed by acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal stayed the interim bail order later on Monday night. The high court will hear the plea elaborately on Wednesday. Until then, the four accused have been remanded in judicial custody.

Moving the high court, CBI counsel Dinesh Kumar argued that at the time of hearing bail petitions of the accused persons, five prominent ministers of the state government and several outsiders were present in the special CBI court.

“In this situation, it was impossible for the CBI court to judge the case freely,” Kumar argued.

The lawyer also claimed that a large number of Trinamul Congress supporters had gathered in front of its office shortly after the arrests. The counsel said the mob had also attacked police and CBI officials as well and prevented the central agency from producing the four accused leaders in the CBI special court physically.

The CBI counsel also prayed for transfer of the case from Calcutta to Bhubaneshwar or Guwahati and prayed for judicial custody of the accused leaders at least till the next date of hearing. The high court is yet to decide on the plea to shift the case outside Bengal.

Several legal questions were raised on the role of the CBI in dealing with the matter.

Congress leader and eminent Calcutta High Court lawyer, Arunava Ghosh, said: “What was the urgency of the CBI to move the high court the same day? When the CBI court had granted bail to the accused leaders, they should have been released immediately.”

CPM MP and senior advocate of Calcutta High Court, Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, however, said: “Law has taken its own course.”

The ruling Trinamool Congress MP Sukhendu Sekhar Roy said the “CBI has become a puppet of the central government. It is not an impartial investigating agency but the CBI is acting as per the directive of Centre.”

Earlier in the day, special CBI court judge, Anupam Mukherjee, had asked the accused persons to furnish two sureties of Rs 25,000 each for interim bail.

CBI sleuths picked up the four leaders from their homes and drove them to the investigating agency’s office at Nizam Palace in south Calcutta. It was only after a few hours that the CBI issued arrest orders to the four leaders.

When the CBI officials were asked about the reason for the arrest, the leaders were told that they had been shown to be taking bribes in a sting operation conducted by Narada web portal. They were also told that the investigating agency would hand over the copy of the chargesheet to the special CBI court later in the day.

After the arrest of the three Trinamul leaders and former mayor Chatterjee, chief minister Mamata Banerjee rushed to the CBI office and an angry crowd of Trinamul supporters gathered outside, making the production of the accused in the court almost impossible.

Hence, the CBI prayed for virtual production of the arrested leaders in the special CBI court. After discussing the plea with counsels of both the sides, the special CBI judge agreed to hear the case virtually.

Appearing for the CBI, counsel Dinesh Kumar prayed for CBI custody of the arrested leaders and said since they were very influential, they should be kept behind bars for the sake of future course of the investigation.

Defending the arrested quartet, senior advocate and Trinamul MP Kalyan Banerjee opposed the CBI’s prayer and said the arrests were illegal.

“Until and unless it is proved that the leaders had demanded money, they cannot be held guilty of the crime. In the sting operation it was shown that the sting operator had offered money and the leaders had taken it,” the lawyer said.

At this point, the CBI counsel amended their prayer and demanded jail custody of the accused leaders. They also told the judge that they would submit the chargesheet against the four arrested leaders.

The judge then asked the CBI counsel what was the need to seek the custody of the accused persons when the chargesheets was ready. The CBI counsel could not answer the query.

Advocate Banerjee claimed that only Trinamul Congress leaders had been arrested, but BJP leaders Mukul Roy and Suvendu Adhikary, who were accused in the same case, had been spared.

Banerjee argued that the Supreme Court had on May 7 asked police not to make unnecessary arrests because of the raging Covid-19 pandemic and added that “the CBI did not bother to obey the Supreme Court”.

Banerjee also said the arrests were made after seeking the nod of the governor and he did “not have the power to give such approvals”.

After hearing both the sides, the judge issued his order granting interim bail to the four arrested leaders.