Kolkata: In a major setback to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the Calcutta High Court on Friday granted interim bail to four West Bengal leaders who were arrested on May 17 by the investigative agency in connection with the Narada bribery case.
A five-member bench of the Calcutta High Court granted bail to TMC leaders Firhad Hakim, Madan Mitra and Subrata Mukherjee, and Sovan Chatterjee, who had crossed over to the BJP but quit the party before elections.
All four have been under house arrest since May 19 following the court’s order because the matter was referred to the larger bench.
The bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal, Justices IP Mukerji, Soumen Sen, Harish Tandon, and Arijit Mukherjee passed the order after lawyers of the arrested leaders urged the bench to recall the May 17 order of the Division Bench which had stayed the bail granted to them by the Special Court.
While passing the order, the court asked them to submit a personal bond of Rs 2 lakh each with two sureties. They were asked to join the investigation through video conferencing.
The bench also asked all four of them to not make any comments or statements before the media. It was also categorised that Friday’s interim bail order will be subject to the final order and will stand cancelled if the CBI succeeds in its plea.
On May 17, high drama unfolded outside Hakim’s residence in south Kolkata’s Chetla around 8 am when a team of CBI officers reached there in the middle of protests by TMC supporters. After 20 minutes of questioning, he was taken to Nizam Palace.
The other three — Subrata Mukherjee, Madan Mitra and Sovan Chatterjee – had personally appeared before the CBI officers at Nizam Palace after being summoned by the probe agency.
Soon after, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and other senior party leaders, MLAs and MPs rushed to Nizam Palace and accused the CBI for working on the instruction of the BJP.
Mamata Banerjee had termed the arrests illegal and asked investigators to arrest her as well. The chief minister left the CBI office late afternoon.
A few days ago, West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar has accorded prosecution sanction to the CBI against Hakim, Mitra, and Mukherjee in the 2016 Narada sting operation case.
Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee said the arrest was illegal, as CBI did not take his permission. The CBI said a case was registered in April 2017 after “public servants were caught on camera while receiving illegal gratification”.
The ‘controversial’ sting at the centre of the controversy was conducted by Narada news founder Mathew Samuel for over two years. Ahead of the 2016 assembly elections, Narada news released videos showing 13 TMC ministers and leaders accepting bribes in return of favours.
As part of the sting operation, Samuel formed a fictitious company and approached several TMC ministers, asking them for favours in return for money.
Those seen in the sting tapes were: Firhad Hakim, Mukul Roy (now with the BJP), Saugata Roy, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Sultan Ahmed, Subrata Mukherjee, Suvendu Adhikari (now with the BJP), Sovan Chatterjee (who joined the BJP and then quit), Aparupa Poddar, Madan Mitra, Iqbal Ahmed, Prasun Banerjee and HMS Mirza.
On March 17, 2017, the Calcutta High Court ordered that a preliminary probe will be conducted by CBI. The court also directed CBI to register an FIR against others involved in the case, if required.
On April 17, 2017, the CBI filed a charge sheet against the 13 leaders and other TMC functionaries. All of them were booked under Section 120 B of the Indian Penal Code (criminal conspiracy), Section 13 (2), 13 (1D) and Section 7 of Prevention of Corruption Act.
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