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News Desk: The Calcutta High Court on Monday night stayed the bail granted to Firhad Hakim, Subrata Mukherjee, Madan Mitra and Sovan Chatterjee in connection with the Narada case. The CBI cited West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee’s presence as a big threat to back it’s contention. The accused leaders were taken to Presidency correctional home around 1.30 am on Tuesday. The convoy of cars left Nizam Palace amid tight security after their mandatory health examination.
TMC MLA Madan Mitra and former party member Sovan Chatterjee were taken to the state-run SSKM Hospital after they complained of breathlessness. “Chatterjee and Mitra complained of breathlessness at around 3 am, following which they were brought to the hospital. Both have been kept on oxygen support at the Woodburn Ward of the SSKM Hospital. They are stable now,” the official of the medical facility said.
TMC leader Subrata Mukherjee has been admitted to SSKM Hospital too. At the moment, only Firhad Hakim is lodged inside the Presidency Jail.
After Calcutta HC stayed bail on the four accused, Hakim at night said “We will be released through the law. BJP can buy CBI, ED, anyone. But the law of the land will not remain silent. We will get justice through law. It’s not wrong to be popular, I’m popular. So thousands of people have come to support me. I have cooperated with the CBI, behaved well. So where is my fault? I was deprived of bail. I was given the responsibility of dealing with covid. They did not let me save people of Kolkata”
Firhad Hakim’s daughter Shabba Hakim cried foul over the Calcutta High Court’s order. Speaking to the media, she raised alarm over the “illegal” detention of Hakim and other leaders for 4 hours after the Special CBI court granted them bail. According to her, this was a sign that the central agency was confident of obtaining a stay on the order.
Though Advocate General Kishore Dutta did appear before the Calcutta HC, she lamented that such an order was passed in the absence of the individual lawyers of the accused. On this occasion, she also expressed fear that President’s Rule will be imposed in West Bengal. She contended that the BJP top brass was trying to wrest control of the state by arresting the “most popular” leaders as the saffron party failed to make an impact in the recently concluded Assembly polls.
