In a post-midnight development, The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday (May 18) stayed the bail of the four leaders of Trinamool Congress, including two ministers in the Mamata Banerjee cabinet of West Bengal, and sent them to Presidency Jail. The CBI on the other hand demanded that the trial be shifted outside the state citing the protest over their arrest. Its counsels said that since they are powerful persons, they can influence the trial. They cited the presence of chief minister Mamata Banerjee at the CBI office as an example.
All the four were sent to jail at 1:50 AM. The High Court will hear the case on May 19.
As reported earlier on Monday the Special CBI court of Justice Anupam Mukherjee granted bail to all the four Trinamool Congress leaders arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation.
Those arrested were urban development minister Firhad Hakeem, panchayat minister Subrata Mukherjee, Madan Mitra (MLA) and former Mayor of Calcutta, Sovan Chatterjee. They all were arrested in the Narada bribery sting operation case of 2016. Incidentally, two BJP leaders Suvendhu Adhikary and Mukul Roy were not arrested though their names had also figured prominently in the case.
It needs to be mentioned that the two-judge bench of acting chief justice Rajesh Bindal and justice Arijit Banerjee heard the CBI counsel’s petition late in the night. The CBI was represented by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and Y J Dastoor, additional solicitor general.
The state was represented by advocate general Kishore Dutta and some other senior lawyers.
