Kolkata : In an unprecedented judgement, a Calcutta High Court division bench on Thursday rejected the bail of former West Bengal transport minister Madan Mitra, who was allegedly involved in the multi-crore Saradha scam, and directed him to immediately surrender before the additional sub-divisional judicial magistrate of Alipore.
After knowing the order of the Calcutta High Court, Mitra went to Alipore Court and surrendered himself. In October, the session judge of Alipore Court had granted him conditional bail on a personal bond of Rs 2 lakh. The court observed there was no need to keep Mitra behind bars beyond the 324 days he has already spent. Mitra was arrested by the CBI on December 12 last year.
Challenging the order of the Alipore Court, the CBI, which is investigating the scam, filed a petition in the Calcutta High Court. On November 5, a vacation division bench of justices Joymalya Bagchi and Mir Dara Shiko ordered Madan Mitra to be kept under house arrest till November 17.
The bench also criticised the order given by the sessions judge of Alipore Court and said that the CBI should get time to contest the case. In its petition, the CBI advocate urged to cancel the bail given to Mitra by the Alipore Court. The CBI advocate said that Mitra might influence the case and hence his bail should be cancelled.
The division bench also passed an order saying that on November 17, a regular division bench would hear the bail cancellation plea. However, CM Mamata Banerjee accepted the resignation of Mitra only on Wednesday night though the arrested minister had sent his resignation letter 10 months ago.
The matter came up for hearing on Wednesday and the bench of justices Nishita Mhatre and Tapas Mukherjee said since Mitra’s lawyers have not filed their affidavit before the court in opposition to the CBI’s prayer, the case would come up for hearing on Thursday. After hearing the plea of the CBI advocate, the bench cancelled the bail of Mitra on Thursday and asked him to immediately surrender before the Alipore Court.
