3 TMC leaders ‘fall ill’ in jail, land in hospital
Party ropes in Cong’s Abhishek Manu Singhvi to move HC
A day after getting arrested and chargesheeted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the Narada sting operation case, three of the four accused TMC leaders, who are in judicial custody now, took admission to SSKM Hospital one after another since early Tuesday complaining of respiratory distress in Presidency Central Jail.
At around 3.45 am, state panchayat minister Subrata Mukherjee, Kamarhati MLA Madan Mitra and former Kolkata Mayor Sovan Chatterjee were rushed to the state government-run hospital from the prison.
Mr Mitra and Mr Chatterjee were admitted to the Woodburn Block immediately.
They were given oxygen support. Their condition is stable now.
But Mr Mukherjee returned to the prison after feeling better. In the morning he again felt the discomfort and was brought to the hospital where he was admitted in the same ward where Mr Mitra and Mr Chatterjee are undergoing treatment. The fourth accused, Firhad Hakim, also felt discomfort at the prison. The doctors checked his health at the prison hospital.
Shaba Hakim, one of the daughters of the state
● minister, who met him at the prison, said, “My father is sad because he can not work for the people now amid pandemic despite being the administrator of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation.”
Baishakhi Banerjee, a close friend of Mr Chatterjee, who had visited the prison late on Monday night to meet him
but failed, alleged that she was not allowed to hand over his medicines to him. She, however, met him at the hospital during the day.
In the afternoon the TMC fielded Congress leader and veteran lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi to move the Calcutta High Court appealing for the reconsideration of the stay order on Monday night by the division bench of acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal and Justice Arijit Banerjee on the special CBI Court’s interim bail to the accused quartet as the CBI is planning to file a caveat at the Supreme Court in the case.
Alongwith TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee and Siddharth Luthra, Mr Singhvi argued that the representatives of the accused could not take part in the hearing at the high court.
The trio also urged the high court to hear their appeal alongwith the CBI’s prayer for transfer of the case.
Both the matters would come up for hearing on Wednesday when the judicial custody of the four accused would also end.
The three Trinamul leaders have urged the high court to hear their appeal alongwith the CBI’s prayer for transfer of the case.