Four political heavyweights, including two ministers of the ruling Trinamool Congress government and a party MLA, were on Monday arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation ( CBI) in the Narada sting operation case and were granted interim bail in the evening.
Senior Ministers Subrata Mukherjee and Firhad Hakim, TMC MLA Madan Mitra and former Minister and former Kolkata Municipal Corporation mayor who recently quit the Bharatiya Janata Party, Sovan Chatterjee, were all picked up from their residences in the early hours of the day and brought to the CBI headquarters at Nizam Palace in south Kolkata.
The four of them were produced before a virtual city court, where the counsels representing the CBI sought a 14-day judicial custody. The lawyers representing the arrested members said there was no need for custody for any of the accused since the chargesheet has been filed. The defence counsels also said such custodial interrogation is not required in the time of a pandemic. The central investigating agency may also appeal before the higher courts opposing the bail.
Reacting to the arrests, TMC spokesman Kunal Ghosh claimed that the CBI action was a vengeful act and a fallout of the BJP’s loss in the West Bengal assembly elections. “The BJP is still not able to accept defeat in the polls after having made an all-out attempt to win… This is a reprehensible act.
“When the state is fighting the Covid situation, they are trying to create disturbances in such a manner,” he said.
The ruling party MP Sougata Roy said this was a “vengeful and vindictive” decision by the central government. “The CBI action is politically motivated,” said TMC MLA Tapas Roy.
West Bengal Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee dubbed the arrests as illegal, contending that the CBI move on the basis of the governor’s sanction was unlawful. “I have not received any letter from the CBI nor has anybody sought any permission from me as per the protocol,” he said.
Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar had recently granted sanction to prosecute all the four leaders, following which the probe agency finalised its charge-sheet and moved to arrest them.
The CBI has said that it proceeded with arrests after receiving permission from the competent authority.
At the CBI’s Nizam Palace office, TMC supporters broke barriers set up before the main gate and took to sloganeering against Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. They also threw bricks and bottles at the central forces who stood guard in front of the office premises.
Many of them also protested in front of the Raj Bhavan against Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar, who had recently sanctioned the prosecution of the four leaders. Protests broke out in several other areas, including Arambagh in Hooghly district and Kamarhati in North 24 Parganas, where the agitators burnt tyres and blocked roads, demanding immediate release of party leaders.
TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee, who is also the party’s youth wing president, urged the demonstrators to have faith in the judiciary. “I urge everyone to abide by the law & refrain from any activity that violates lockdown norms for the sake of the larger interest of Bengal and its people. We have utmost faith in the judiciary & the battle will be fought legally,” the Diamond Harbour MP and CM Mamata Banerjee’s nephew tweeted.