HC grants interim bail to four TMC leaders

KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court on Friday granted interim bail to two West Bengal ministers Subrata Mukherjee and Firhad Hakim, TMC MLA Madan Mitra and ex city mayor Sovan Chatterjee, arrested by CBI in the Narada sting tapes case.

Imposing conditions, a fivejudge bench of the high court directed the four accused persons, who are under house arrest, to furnish bail bonds of ₹2 lakh each. The bench directed them not to make any comment in public or in media with regard to the matter. They were also directed to meet the investigating officer through virtual mode as and when required.

The four leaders were arrested on the morning of May 17 by the CBI, which is investigating the Narada sting tapes case on a 2017 order of the Calcutta High Court. A special CBI court had granted interim bail to the four accused on May 17, but a division bench of the high court -- comprising Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal and Justice Arijit Banerjee -- stayed the decision after which the leaders were sent to judicial custody.

The five-judge bench comprises Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal and justices I P Mukerji, Harish Tandon, Soumen Sen and Arijit Banerjee.

CBI’S plea to transfer the Narada trial out of the state is also pending before the high court. It has named West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, law minister Moloy Ghatak, and lawmaker Kalyan Banerjee as respondents.