Narada case: Calcutta High Court grants bail to four Trinamool leaders
The bribery case involves videos published by Narada News, in which several Trinamool Congress leaders were allegedly seen accepting cash in return for favours. The videos, shot by the website’s Chief Executive Mathew Samuel, were released ahead of the state Assembly elections in 2016.
A five-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court has granted interim bail to four Trinamool Congress leaders, including two West Bengal ministers, in the Narada case. The bench granted the bail on Friday, upon furnishing two bonds of Rs 2 lakh each.
However, the court said the interim bail to Firhad Hakim, Subrata Mukherjee, Madan Mitra and Shovan Chatterjee remained valid till only the bench gives a final order in this case.
The five-judge bench said, “The CBI can further interrogate the accused but without physically summoning them to the CBI office because of the prevailing Covid-19 situation. Investigations can proceed via video conferencing.”
Also read: Why Narada case arrests boomeranged on BJP in West Bengal
Also, the leaders cannot give interviews to the press on this case or any other legal matters pending on them, the court said.
The bribery case involves videos published by Narada News, in which several Trinamool Congress leaders were allegedly seen accepting cash in return for favours. The videos, shot by the website’s Chief Executive Mathew Samuel, were released ahead of the state Assembly elections in 2016.
Seven of the then Trinamool Congress MPs were also involved in the scam. Of them, Suvendu Adhikari and Mukul Roy switched sides to the BJP. One of the accused, former Trinamool Congress politician Sultan Ahmed died in 2017.
