Standoff as Mamata’s ministers held by CBI
KOLKATA: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday arrested two senior West Bengal ministers, a legislator and a former Kolkata mayor on charges of bribery and corruption, triggering fierce protests by the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and a six-hour agitation by chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
A special CBI local court granted bail to all four accused -urban development minister Firhad Hakim, panchayat minister Subrata Mukherjee, Kamarhati MLA Madan Mitra and former Kolkata mayor Sovan Chatterjee -- but the Calcutta high court stayed the order late on Monday. The case will be next heard on Wednesday.
The four leaders were arrested from their residences in the morning and charged under Section 120b of the Indian Penal Code (criminal conspiracy) and sections 7 and 13(1)(a) 13(1)(b) of the Prevention of Corruption Act for charges related to the 2016 Narada sting operation bribery case.
Shortly afterwards, Banerjee rushed to the CBI’s office at Nizam Palace in south Kolkata and left after nearly six hours. “Mamata told CBI officials that she should also be arrested,” said a TMC leader.