Bengal CM, minister file fresh plea in HC in Narada case

The apex court set aside the high court’s June 9 order that refused to accept the affidavits Banerjee and Ghatak filed describing their role on May 17 when state ministers Subrata Mukherjee and Firhad Hakim, Trinamool Congress MLA Madan Mitra, and former Kolkata mayor Sovan Chatterjee were arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation in the case.

Following the Supreme Court order, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, state law minister Malay Ghatak and state government on Monday filed a fresh application at the Calcutta high court to submit their affidavits in the Narada case.

The CBI has alleged that Banerjee and Ghatak incited a mob after the arrested leaders were brought to the CBI office. (PTI file photo)

On June 25, SC vacation bench of Justices Vineet Saran and Dinesh Maheshwari urged the five -judge bench of the Calcutta high court, headed by acting chief justice Rajesh Bindal, to decide afresh the pleas of Banerjee, Ghatak, and the state government before deciding on the CBI petition seeking transfer of the case from the special CBI court to the high court.

The case will be now heard by the five-judge high court bench on Tuesday.

The apex court set aside the high court’s June 9 order that refused to accept the affidavits Banerjee and Ghatak filed describing their role on May 17 when state ministers Subrata Mukherjee and Firhad Hakim, Trinamool Congress MLA Madan Mitra, and former Kolkata mayor Sovan Chatterjee were arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation in the case. The CBI has alleged that Banerjee and Ghatak incited a mob after the arrested leaders were brought to the CBI office.