Narada Case: Mamata Banerjee had courted arrest after the CBI took 2 ministers into custody.
Kolkata:
Two of Mamata Banerjee’s ministers and two different leaders arrested this morning in a bribery case had their bails placed on maintain late within the night after the CBI challenged their bail within the Calcutta Excessive Court docket. Bengal Ministers Firhad Hakim and Subrata Mukherjee have been arrested early this morning within the Narada bribery case. So have been Trinamool MLA Madan Mitra and Sovan Chatterjee, who went from the Trinamool to the BJP however give up that celebration too.
All 4 have been granted bail after almost seven hours of drama and confrontation because the Bengal Chief Minister spent a lot of the day on the CBI workplace in Kolkata difficult their arrests. However late within the night, the company challenged the bail. Citing protests by the Trinamool Congress supporters exterior its workplace, the CBI sought a switch of the trial exterior Bengal.
The court docket determined that the leaders will likely be positioned in jail custody. All 4, who have been within the CBI workplace even after being granted bail, will likely be taken to the Presidency jail tonight. The following listening to will happen on Wednesday.
Earlier at the moment, Central forces had arrived on the leaders’ properties and took them to the CBI workplace. Inside an hour, a livid Mamata Banerjee additionally landed on the CBI workplace in Nizam Palace and dared the investigating company to arrest her too.
“The best way they’ve been arrested with out due process, CBI should arrest me additionally,” the Bengal Chief Minister reportedly mentioned throughout her extraordinary stake-out on the CBI lasting greater than six hours.
All 4 have been ministers within the earlier Mamata Banerjee authorities and have been seen taking bribes within the Narada bribery tapes shot in 2014.
However the Trinamool questioned why Suvendu Adhikari and Mukul Roy, former Trinamool leaders who have been additionally on the Narada tapes, have escaped motion until now.
Each have been Trinamool MPs on the time however have since joined the BJP and not too long ago turned BJP MLAs.
Mamata Banerjee has repeatedly held them up as examples of the “BJP washer impact”, a time period she makes use of whereas accusing defectors of becoming a member of the BJP to flee prosecution.
Final December, a day after Suvendu Adhikari joined the BJP triggering a mass exodus from the Trinamool, his photographs disappeared from the Narada tapes floating round on social media.
The Trinamool Congress has additionally as soon as once more accused Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar of enjoying a partisan function, saying he isn’t approved to sanction the arrest of the three Trinamool MLAs; the meeting Speaker is. However Mr Dhankhar mentioned he had the suitable to clear their prosecution as he had sworn them in as ministers when the crime was dedicated.
“The governor is doing no matter he pleases in opposition to the Trinamool,” mentioned Trinamool MP Kalyan Banerjee, utilizing phrases like “bloodsucker”.
Mathew Samuel, the journalist who carried out the Narada sting, mentioned he was pleased at at the moment’s developments however stunned that some have been unnoticed.
“I had gone and given the cash to Suvendu Adhikari in his workplace. His identify just isn’t on the record. What occurred? A forensic was carried out and it was confirmed…the CBI took an announcement from me too. I even received to know that Suvendu Adhikari admitted he acquired the cash from me,” Mr Samuel mentioned.
All of the arrested leaders are accused of accepting Rs 4 to five lakh as bribe in a sting operation by the Narada information portal, which was launched in 2016.
Mr Samuel posed as a businessman planning to put money into Bengal, gave wads of money to seven Trinamool MPs, 4 ministers, one MLA and a police officer as bribe and taped the whole operation.
Sultan Ahmed, one other accused MP, has died. The CBI had additionally requested for permission to prosecute Sougata Roy, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Prasun Banerjee and Aparupa Poddar. The Lok Sabha Speaker has not granted sanction for any of them.
The Trinamool and different events have questioned the timing of the arrests on the top of Bengal’s Covid surge and proper after Mamata Banerjee’s landslide victory in polls that changed into a fierce status battle between her and the BJP.
An enormous crowd of Trinamool staff protested exterior the CBI constructing and tried to interrupt barricades. Additionally they threw stones at paramilitary personnel, who used batons to try to take away them.
Governor Dhankhar alleged “complete lawlessness and anarchy” and warned of “repercussions”.
Message @MamataOfficial “Complete lawlessness & anarchy. Police and administration in silence mode. Hope you notice repercussions of such lawlessness and failure of constitutional mechanism.
Time to replicate and comprise this explosive scenario that’s worsening minute by minute.”— Governor West Bengal Jagdeep Dhankhar (@jdhankhar1) May 17, 2021
Mamata Banerjee’s nephew, Trinamool MP Abhishek Banerjee, appealed for calm. “I urge everybody to abide by the legislation and chorus from any exercise that violates lockdown norms for the sake of the bigger curiosity of Bengal and its folks. We’ve got utmost religion within the judiciary and the battle will likely be fought legally,” he tweeted.
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