3 J’khand Congress MLAs get bail in Calcutta HC, to attend special House session today – Hindustan Times

Kolkata News

The three Jharkhand Congress MLAs, who were arrested in West Bengal with about 50 lakh in cash in July this year and have been out on interim bail, were granted conditional bail by the Calcutta High Court on Thursday, a lawyer involved in the case said.

Five persons, including three Congress MLAs from Jharkhand — Irfan Ansari, Rajesh Kachchap and Naman Bixal Kongari — were apprehended in Howrah district on July 30.Police had said 49 lakh in cash was seized from the vehicle they were travelling in.

A day later, they were arrested by Kolkata police after Congress MLA Jaimangal Singh filed an FIR against the three legislators in Ranchi, alleging they were in a conspiracy to pull down the Hemant Soren government in collusion with the BJP.

The three were granted interim bail by the Calcutta HC on August 17 this year. However, the HC restrained them from going to Jharkhand with directions that they would have to stay in Kolkata for three months.

The matter came up for hearing in the Calcutta HC again on Thursday, Koustav Bagchi, counsel of Jaimangal Singh, the complainant in the case, said.

“They were granted bail, with a caveat that they have to appear before the investigating officer every 15 days. They have been barred from entering Assam as investigation is going on. The legislators can, however, travel to Jharkhand,” said a senior advocate of Calcutta HC.

Congress had suspended the three legislators soon after their arrest and also moved an anti-defection petition seeking their disqualification from the assembly. The petition is currently being heard by the Speaker.

All three legislators would be reaching Ranchi by Friday morning and attend the one-way special session of the assembly, one of them said. “We were confident that we would get justice because we are innocent and have been framed by a legislator. We have no idea why he filed a complaint against us. The time we spent here in past three months was very difficult. But we want to thank our well wishers who stood by us,” said Ansari.

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