Narada case: TMC ministers to be under house arrest

THE CALCUTTA HC CONSTITUTED A 5-JUDGE BENCH TO HEAR THE CASE ON THE ARREST OF TMC LEADERS, WHICH WILL BE HEARD ON MAY 24

KOLKATA: The Calcutta high court on Friday ordered the house arrest of four West Bengal politicians arrested this week on corruption charges until a larger bench is constituted to hear their bail pleas. It rejected pleas for their interim bail until the constitution of the bench as well as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)’S request to keep them in jail.

“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, the counsel for Subrata Mukherjee.

Firhad Hakim and Mukherjee, who are Cabinet ministers in the state, ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) legislator Madan Mitra and former mayor Sovan Chatterjee have been under judicial custody since the high court stayed a CBI court order granting them bail on Monday in the Narada sting operation case.

Advocate Kalyan Banerjee, representing Hikm, told the court that Hakim’s presence was necessary for managing the Covid crisis in Kolkata.

“As two of the accused persons are ministers in the state government, the court also permitted them access to administrative files and to meet government officials through video conferencing,” said Chatterjee.