Politics

Narada Case: Calcutta HC Grants Interim Bail To TMC Leaders

The grant of bail is subject to a personal bond of Rs. 2 lakh and two sureties. The accused must also give an undertaking they won’t speak to the media on either the case or issues relating to the case. Failure to comply with these conditions will entail the cancellation of bail.

The Calcutta High Court on Friday granted interim bail to four Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders arrested in connection with the Narada case, on certain conditions. A division bench had earlier stayed the bail order and later placed them under house arrest.

A five-judge Bench of Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal and Justices IP Mukerji, Harish Tandon, Soumen Sen, and Arijit Banerjee decided to grant interim bail while the matter remains pending.

“…our tentative opinion is that we will grant interim bail and then hear the matter. Because hearing of this case will take a week or so.” the bench said, according to Bar&Bench

Opposing the bail, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said that the bail might have an “adverse impact on society” and that the leaders are influential enough to affect the probe into the case.

“It may have an adverse impact on society. I would respectfully urge not to grant interim bail,” he pleaded.

Justice IP Mukherjee replied by saying, “This probe started in 2017. They were not arrested then and the probe was completed without arresting them. Why do you think they need to be arrested now and prevented from discharging their public duties?”

The grant of bail is subject to a personal bond of Rs. 2 lakh and two sureties. The accused must also give an undertaking they won’t speak to the media on either the case or issues relating to the case. Failure to comply with these conditions will entail the cancellation of bail.
The Narada sting operation was conducted by Narada news founder Mathew Samuel for over two years in West Bengal. Conducted in 2014 for the news magazine Tehelka, it was published on a private news website Narada News months before the 2016 West Bengal Assembly elections.

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In the 52-hour footage photographed by Samuel and his colleague Angel Abraham, then TMC MPs Mukul Roy, Sougata Roy, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Prasun Bannerjee, Suvendu Adhikari, Aparupa Poddar, and Sultan Ahmad (he died in 2017), and state ministers Madan Mitra, Subrata Mukherjee and Firhad Hakim and Iqbal Ahmed were seen accepting alleged bribes in the form of wads of cash in exchange for extending unofficial favors for Impex Consultancy Solutions, which was floated by Samuel himself.
Notably, in the current investigation, none of the current BJP leaders, then exposed in the scam as TMC leaders have been investigated.
Four TMC leaders and ministers – State ministers Subrata Mukherjee, Firhad Hakim, TMC MLA Madan Mitra, and former Kolkata Mayor Sovan Chatterjee are the ones against whom the CBI is investigating the charge.
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