CBI court grants interim bail to TMC leaders Madan Mitra, Firhad Hakim, Subrata Mukherjee and Sovan Chatterjee

A Special CBI court on Monday granted interim bail to All India Trinamool Congress leaders Madan Mitra, Firhad Hakim @ Bobby Hakim, Subrata Mukherjee and Sovan Chatterjee in the Narada case after they were arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The order was passed by special CBI judge, Anupam Mukherjee, Bar & Bench reported.

All four were arrested on Monday morning from their residences by the CBI.

The arrest had led to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee sitting in Dharna outside the CBI office in Kolkata.

The court noted in its order that CBI had not sought custody of the four accused for interrogation but prayer was for judicial custody which cannot be a ground for detention of the arrested persons.

"Considering all these aspects the accused persons namely Madan Mitra, Firhad Hakim @ Bobby Hakim, Subrata Mukherjee and Sovan Chatterjee (are) granted interim bail," the court ordered.

The bail is subject to them furnishing bail bonds of Rs. 50,000 each with two sureties of Rs. 25,000 each.

They must cooperate the IO in respect of further investigation and should report to the IO every fortnight until further order, the court added.

Default will lead to judicial custody till May 31, 2021, the court said.

Interestingly, the court, in granting bail to the accused, relied upon the recent judgment of the Supreme Court urging decongestion of prisons to avoid COVID-19 spread.

"The Hon'ble Apex court is also of the view of that the over crowding of the accused in the prison might have an effect of the infection of the COVID-19 which should not be encouraged and accordingly, the Hon'ble Apex Court has directed the authorities concerned to decongest the prison for avoiding the infection in between the inmates," the court said.