Narada case: Calcutta High Court grants interim bail to four TMC leaders; next hearing on 31 May

The Calcutta High Court on Friday granted interim bail to four Trinamool Congress leaders (TMC), including two West Bengal ministers, arrested in relation the Narada case. The five-judge Bench of Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal and Justices IP Mukerji, Harish Tandon, Soumen Sen and Arijit Banerjee said the decision was taken as the hearing of the case will take a week or so, Bar and Bench reported. The court was hearing a plea for recall of an earlier high court order staying their bail, before taking up the CBI’s prayer for transfer of the case alleging mob pressure on the lower court which granted them bail. Interim bail was granted on conditions of a personal bond of Rs 2 lakhs, two sureties, the leaders joining investigation through virtual meetings and not giving press interviews on pending trial in the case. The bench will continue the hearing of the main case on 31 May, LiveLaw reported. All the four accused Trinamool Congress leaders and ministers Subrata Mukherjee and Firhad Hakim, party MLA Madan Mitra and former mayor Sovan Chatterjee who is an ex-TMC leader — are currently under house arrest as per the high court’s order. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), opposed the bail plea adding that the leaders are influential enough to affect the probe into the case and may have “an adverse impact on the society”. Justice Mukherjee, however, pointed out that the probe was completed without the leaders’ arrest in 2017 and ask why they should be prevented from discharging their public duties now. A special CBI court had granted interim bail to the four accused on 17 May, but a division bench of the high court — comprising Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal and Justice Arijit Banerjee — stayed the decision later that day, following which the leaders were sent to judicial custody. Differing on the application by the four accused for recall of the stay order, Justice Arijit Banerjee on 21 May favoured granting of bail to the four, while Bindal wanted that they be sent on house arrest. The division bench then passed an order sending the four accused to house arrest, modifying its earlier order that stayed their bail. In view of the difference of opinion, the bench decided to refer the matter to a five-judge bench, which took up hearing of the matter on 24 May. The Narada sting operation was conducted by journalist Mathew Samuel of Narada News, a web portal, in 2014 wherein some people resembling TMC ministers, MPs and MLAs were seen receiving money from representatives of a fictitious company in lieu of favours. At that time, the four arrested politicians were ministers in the Mamata Banerjee government. The sting operation was made public ahead of the 2016 Assembly elections in West Bengal. With inputs from PTI