The Calcutta High Court issued a stay order on the bail of the four All India Trinamool Congress leaders who were arrested on Monday in the Narada sting case. The accused will remain in Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) custody till Wednesday.
Earlier on Monday, a special CBI court in Kolkata had granted bail to the four leaders – ruling TMC ministers Firhad Hakim and Subrata Mukherjee, TMC MLA Madan Mitra and ex-Kolkata mayor Sovan Chatterjee. However, they were not immediately released.
Shabba Hakim, daughter of West Bengal minister Firhad Hakim, took to Twitter to allege that the four accused were being held illegally and the verdict of the court was being disregarded by CBI.
Even after the bail order has come through, CBI is detaining @FirhadHakim @MLA_Subrata @madanmitraoff and Sovan Chatterjee illegally. They are disregarding the verdict of the court. #shamecbi
— Shabba Hakim (@shabba_hakim) May 17, 2021
The four had remained in custody because the CBI had moved the high court pleading that the matter be transferred out of the special CBI court in Kolkata and shifted outside West Bengal.
TMC protests
The arrests on Monday sparked massive protests outside CBI’s office. As TMC supporters shouted slogans and pelted stones outside, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee went inside the CBI office and demanded to be arrested along with her leaders.
Narada sting case
The four TMC leaders were arrested for allegedly “demanding and accepting illegal gratification to show favour to a private person who was posing as a representative of a fictitious company”. The alleged act was captured on camera.
The sting operation was conducted by Narada News in the state. Their tapes showed 12 TMC ministers, leaders and an IPS officer accepting bribes.The tapes were released before the 2016 Bengal Assembly polls.
In March 2017, based on a PIL seeking an impartial investigation into the Narada tapes, the Calcutta High Court ordered a preliminary probe to be conducted by the CBI in the case.
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Source: https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/narada-sting-case-calcutta-high-court-stay-order-bail-tmc-leaders-custody-1803715-2021-05-17
