House arrest for ministers as justices differ
The Calcutta high court on Friday ordered four heavyweight Bengal politicians be kept under house arrest after a difference of opinion split the two-judge bench on granting the leaders interim bail in a corruption case.
Senior ministers Firhad Hakim and Subrata Mukherjee, Trinamool Congress (TMC) legislator Madan Mitra and former Kolkata mayor Sovan Chatterjee will be placed under house
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arrest until a bigger bench hears the case, the court said.
“There was a difference of opinion between acting chief justice Rajesh Bindal and justice Arijit Banerjee over the bail plea of the four accused. So, the division bench ordered that a large bench be constituted to hear the matter. Till then, the four accused would be kept under house arrest,” said Manishankhar Chatterjee, Subrata Mukherjee’s advocate.
Hours later, the chief justice constituted a five-judge bench consisting of himself and justices IP Mukerji, Harish Tandon, Soumen Sen and Arijit Banerjee, The matter will be heard at 11am on May 24.
On Friday, the court allowed Hakim, who is managing the Covid crisis in Kolkata, access to administrative files and to meet officials through conferencing, said Manishankhar Chatterjee.
The Bhawanipore MLA resigned from the Bengal assembly on Friday, clearing the way for Mamata Banerjee to contest from the constituency she left to fight her former aide Suvendu Adhikari from Nandigram..
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