Narada scam: Calcutta High Court to resume hearing at 2 PM, Abhishek Manu Singhvi to defend tainted Mamata govt ministers

The Calcutta High Court will on Wednesday resume hearing in the Narada scam case in which two cabinet ministers of the Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal - Firhad Hakim and Subrata Mukherjee – and two TMC senior leaders - Madan Mitra and Sovan Chatterjee - have been arrested by the CBI over their alleged involvement.

KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court will on Wednesday take up the Narada scam case for hearing in which two cabinet ministers of the Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal - Firhad Hakim and Subrata Mukherjee – and two TMC senior leaders - Madan Mitra and Sovan Chatterjee -  have been arrested by the CBI over their alleged involvement. 

The high court will hear the Narada scam case around 2 PM. The matter will come up for hearing by the bench led by Acting CJ Rajesh Bindal and Justice Arijit Banerjee.

Cabinet ministers Firhad Hakim and Subrata Mukherjee will be represented by Congress leader and noted lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi. While TMC MLA Madan Mitra and former Mayor Sovan Chatterjee, also accused in the case, will be represented by their counsel Siddharth Luthra 

On Tuesday, Madan Mitra and former minister Sovan Chatterjee were hospitalised after they complained of breathlessness. They were admitted to the state-run SSKM hospital where they have been kept on oxygen support.

A day earlier, they were arrested by the CBI along with two state ministers - Firhad Hakim and Subrata Mukherjee. All four leaders were taken to Presidency Correctional Home in Kolkata late on Monday night.

Mukherjee, who fell sick in the correctional home, was also taken to the hospital for a check-up early on Tuesday. He was taken back to jail after the check-up. The official said the minister did not want to get admitted to the hospital.

On Monday, a special CBI court granted bail to all four leaders, however, the bail was stayed by the Calcutta High Court after the CBI challenged the order.

A division bench said that they shall be treated to be in "judicial custody till further orders". The TMC has accused the BJP of a 'witch-hunt' saying that they are protecting their own party leaders allegedly involved in the case such as Suvendu Adhikari and Mukul Roy.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, other TMC leaders and supporters had staged a protest at the CBI office in Kolkata following the arrest of the four.

TMC party supporters raised slogans against the BJP- led NDA government, and hurled stones and bricks at security personnel outside Nizam Palace, which houses the CBI office here, protesting the arrests.