Narada case: Calcutta High Court grants interim bail to all four TMC leaders, bars them from speaking to media

KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court on Friday granted interim bail to four Trinamool Congress leaders - former ministers Firhad Hakim, Subrata Mukherjee, Sovan Chatterjee and Madan Mitra – in connection with the Narada alleged bribery case.

The high court asked them to deposit a bail bond of Rs 2 lakh each in connection with the Narada case. The high court also restricted them from giving interviews to news channels related to the CBI probe into the Narada case.

"They will submit a personal bond of Rs 2 lakh each with two sureties. They will join the investigation by video conferencing,'' the high court said in its order. They will not give press interviews on pending trial on the Narada case, the order added.

The high court had earlier ordered that the four TMC leaders be kept under house arrest instead of jail.

The four politicians of West Bengal accused in the case are two sitting ministers of Mamata Banerjee-led government - Firhad Hakim and Subrata Mukherjee - and TMC legislators - Madan Mitra and former MLA Sovan Chatterjee.

The high court had earlier referred the bail pleas of these four leaders to be heard by a five-judge larger bench after the split verdict was passed by the two-Judge bench. 

On May 24, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had filed a Special Leave Petition (SLP) before the Supreme Court challenging the Calcutta High Court`s order which allowed the house arrest of four Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders. It later withdrew its appeal.

In its appeal, filed before the apex court, the CBI had sought deferment of the larger Bench hearing the case. 

According to the case, the sting operation was conducted by one Narada News in West Bengal, showing around 12 then TMC ministers, leaders and an IPS officer were allegedly caught accepting bribes. The stint operations tapes were released in the case to expose the accused persons before the 2016 West Bengal Assembly elections. 

In its order in 2017, the Calcutta High Court had directed a preliminary investigation to be conducted by the CBI in the case. It has passed this order after going through a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking a thorough, impartial and independent investigation into the Narada tapes sting operation case.

The Narada sting operation was conducted by Narada news founder Mathew Samuel for over two years in West Bengal. Conducted allegedly in 2014 for the news magazine Tehelka, it was published on a private news website Narada News months before the 2016 West Bengal Assembly elections.

The case is related to a sting operation, commonly known as Narada Sting Operation, in which these former public servants were caught on camera while receiving illegal gratification from the Sting Operator, Samuel. 

Four TMC Ministers Firhad Hakim, Subrata Mukherjee, MLA Madan Mitra and Former Mayor Sovan Chatterjee were recently arrested by CBI in the Narada scam.