Narada case: Calcutta High Court stays bail of 3 Trinamool MLAs

The Calcutta High Court late Monday stayed the bail granted by a special CBI court to three Trinamool Congress MLAs and one former party leader, who were arrested earlier in the day in Narada sting operation case, reports ANI.

On Monday morning, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested the politicians for receiving bribes in 2014. However, hours later, the four leaders were granted bail by Bankshall Court in Kolkata.  

Also read: What happened to Suvendu Adhikari, asks main complainant in Narada case

Among those arrested were Trinamool MLAs Firhad Hakim, Subrata Mukherjee, Madan Mitra and former party leader Sovan Chatterjee. Hakim and Mukherjee are ministers in the recently-formed cabinet of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee‘s third term.

Following their arrests, Banerjee reached the CBI office in Kolkata and stayed there for a few hours, insisting that the central agency should arrest her as well. TMC workers, too, raised slogans against the BJP- led NDA government, and hurled stones and bricks at security personnel outside Nizam Palace, which houses the CBI offices.  

The arrests come days after West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar gave permission to the CBI for the prosecution of these TMC leaders.

The sting operation was carried out by Mathew Samuel of Narada TV news channel in 2014 wherein some people resembling TMC ministers, MPs and MLAs were allegedly seen receiving money from representatives of a fictitious company in lieu of favours.

The tapes were made public just before the 2016 assembly elections in West Bengal.

The Calcutta High Court had ordered a CBI probe into the case in March 2017.