Narada case: CBI moves Supreme Court against house arrest of TMC leaders

KOLKATA: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has approached the Supreme Court against the Calcutta High Court’s order directing house arrest for four Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders arrested by the central agency in connection with the Narada bribery case.

According to reports, the probe agency has sought adjournment of the hearing of the Narada case in front of a larger bench of the high court, scheduled to be held on Monday (May 24, 2021).

The agency has 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, who are accused in the Narada case.

CBI moves Supreme Court against the Calcutta High Court order which allowed house arrest of 4 TMC leaders in Narada case, seeks adjournment of hearing today

— ANI (@ANI) May 24, 2021

The Calcutta High Court, in its order recently on May 21, had allowed four TMC leaders, including two sitting ministers, accused in the Narada case, to be granted bail, and to be kept under house arrest.

The Calcutta High Court had referred the bail pleas of these four leaders to be heard by a five-judge bench after the split verdict was passed by the two-Judge bench.

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.

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. The Calcutta High Court had, in 2017 in its order, directed a preliminary investigation to be conducted by the CBI in the case. 

The Calcutta High Court 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. 

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

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. 

(With agency inputs)