Narada case: Calcutta HC to hear arrested Bengal politicians' plea today
Kolkata/IBNS: The Calcutta High Court will on Wednesday hear four arrested West Bengal politicians' plea seeking a review of the stay order put on their bail granted by a lower court.
West Bengal Ministers Firhad Hakim, Subrata Mukherjee, MLA Madan Mitra, all belonging to the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC), and former Kolkata Mayor Sovan Chatterjee were arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with the Narada sting operation on Monday morning.
Though a special CBI court granted bail to all four, in a dramatic turnaround, the high court put a stay on the bail on Monday night.
Consequently, the four heavyweight politicians were lodged to Presidency Jail though Mukherjee, Mitra and Chatterjee were later admitted to SSKM hospital over health issues.
The four senior politicians will be represented by Congress' Abhishek Manu Singhvi among others in the court on Wednesday.
News portal Narada News released several sting operation footage, where TMC's leaders, ministers, MPs and MLAs were seen allegedly taking bribes.
Meanwhile, TMC leaders have urged all party workers and supporters to maintain calm and not engage in any kind of violence.
On the day of arrests, TMC supporters were seen attacking central police outside the CBI office and also attacking Governor House in downtown Kolkata.
The high court will also hear the CBI's plea to move the case out of the state. The probe agency has filed a plea to move out the case citing the violence outside the CBI office.
Firhad Hakim's daughter Priyadarshini has urged all TMC supporters to not create any chaos outside the high court on Wednesday. "If any chaos is created, my father would be taken outside the state and will be tortured," she told a Bengali news channel.
The same was requested to all TMC workers by Madan Mitra's wife Archana Mitra.
Archana Mitra posted on her husband's Facebook page, "On behalf of Madan Mitra , myself Archana Mitra ,being the wife of him requesting all his wellwishers , cofighters and all TMC Workers of Bengal not to organise any assembly / gathering in and around Calcutta High Court to render total cooperation to the highest honourable bench of our country in Bengal as per constitution to ensure smooth running of judiciary being the most disciplined community working as TMC workers in our State.
"Mamata Banerjee long live , the mentor of peace loving citizens of Bengal. Posted by Archana Mitra , wife of Madan Mitra."
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