Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, reached the CBI’s Kolkata headquarters at Nizam Palace at 10.50 am Monday, just an hour after her cabinet colleagues Firhad Hakim and Subrata Mukherjee, as well as Trinamool Congress MLA Madan Mitra, were arrested by the CBI in connection with the Narada graft case of 2016.
The chief minister asked the CBI to either “arrest her or release the ministers”.
All four were later granted interim bail by the Chief Judicial Magistrate’s (CJM) court.
The chief minister stayed at the CBI’s office for around six hours and left the premises at 4.40 pm. Mamata appeared to be calm when she finally left; she didn’t address the media or make any comments while leaving.
Trinamool MP and senior advocate Kalyan Banerjee, however, told ThePrint that the CBI action was “illegal”.
“The CBI cannot arrest them without the approval of the Bidhan Sabha Speaker. Why are they not arresting Suvendu Adhikari [former Trimaool Member and current BJP MLA]? BJP is frustrated as they were rejected by the people of Bengal. We will fight it out legally,” he said.
Banerjee is leading the team of lawyers who would fight the case for the Trinamool Congress.
Meanwhile, trouble erupted in the vicinity of the CBI’s Kolkata office, even as the chief minister remained inside. Party cadres blocked roads, set tyres on fire and tried to break barricades near the CBI’s Kolkata headquarter. The central agency called for central security forces to guard the office premises.
Party MP and the chief minister’s nephew, Abhishek Banerjee, in a tweet, appealed to party cadres to stay calm and assured them that the CBI action would be fought ‘legally’.
The arrests of Trinamool ministers and MLA came in the midst of a Covid lockdown in the city.
The Narada graft case of 2016 relates to a sting operation by the Narada News website that had allegedly shown Trinamool Congress leaders, MPs and cabinet ministers accepting bribes.
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‘Take good care of the CM’
The Print spoke with senior officers of the CBI, who claimed that Mamata Banerjee demanded the release of her colleagues and wanted to know why they were taken into custody this way. She also asked them to arrest her, along with her colleagues.
“Madam (chief minister) was inside our ACB (anti-corruption bureau) office for around six hours. We had reported everything to our headquarter in Delhi. Around three to four communications were sent to the top bosses during her stay. She wanted us to arrest her. She also demanded release of the accused persons, arrested in connection with the Narada graft case,” a top CBI officer, who did not want to be named, told ThePrint.
A second CBI officer said that they were instructed by the headquarter (CBI) in Delhi to take “good care of the chief minister”.
“For some time, the chief minister sat inside our DIG’s chamber. She said that there would be a huge law and order problem in the state, if the CBI does not reverse its action. Later, she was taken to the conference room, where she and her team of security personnel and lawyers sat,” added the officer.
The central agency, abiding by the Covid protocol, had virtually produced the accused persons before the court and sought a police remand for them.
Though the CJM court granted interim bail to all four, the CBI has said that it will move the High Court against the order.
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Legal battle follows
The CBI had sought remand for the four arrested politicians, which include two ministers, an MLA and former minister and Kolkata mayor Sovan Chatterjee. Chatterjee quit the Trinamool and joined BJP in 2019. However, he also resigned from the BJP, before the recent assembly elections in the state.
Meanwhile, even as the Trinamool Congress has said that the party will fight the CBI and Modi government in court, the CBI has termed the incident of the chief minister’s entry into their office as an “interference”.
“We have taken action according to the law. There is nothing illegal about it. Every time we take action in connection with cases like the Saradha Chit Fund scam and or the Narada graft case, it is called a political vendetta by the ruling party. This is interference into CBI’s functioning in the state,” said the first CBI officer quoted above.
“We will move the high court and present all relevant documents before the court. The court had directed us to investigate. If the ruling party has an issue with the CBI actions, they can contest in court.”
Banerjee, had held a three-day dharna in February, 2019, after a CBI team reached the residence of Rajeev Kumar, former commissioner of Kolkata Police in connection with Saradha chit fund scam.
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
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