KOLKATA: The verdict in the Narada case related to the submission of affidavits of the Chief Minister and the Law Minister will likely be given today, the Calcutta High Court said on Tuesday. Mamata Banerjee, on Monday, had filed a fresh affidavit in Calcutta High court as directed by the Supreme Court of India.
The Supreme Court has already directed the High Court to review the affidavits of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Law Minister Malay Ghatak. The hearing will be held before the larger bench of the court. The court will however decide on Wednesday whether the affidavit will be accepted.
During the initial hearing on Tuesday, the acting Chief Justice left the question to the state government as to why the affidavit was not submitted on time.
Ministers Subrata Mukherjee and Firhad Hakim, Trinamool Congress MLA Madan Mitra, and former mayor of Kolkata Sovan Chatterjee were arrested by the CBI On May 17. The lower court granted them bail on the same day.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was present at the Nizam’s Palace on the day of the incident, and the law minister was accused of leading protests outside. The CBI later claimed in court that the leaders had influenced the agency’s operation and the CBI court’s verdict by visiting the Nizam Palace office in Kolkata when three TMC leaders were arrested.
On the other hand, Malay Ghatak, the state law minister, appeared before the court during the hearing on the arrest of the four leaders. The CBI raised a question as to how could the law minister go to court and appear?
The High Court then sought an affidavit from the Chief Minister and the Law Minister, which they have already presented. However, a bench of the High Court refused to accept the affidavit, claiming that it was given after the asked time frame expired. Later, the Chief Minister approached the Supreme Court.
But on June 25, the Supreme Court asked Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Law Minister Malay Ghatak, and the state government to file an application in the High Court.
Mathew Samuel, a Journalist from Narada News had conducted a sting operation in 2014 wherein some people resembling TMC ministers, MPs, and MLAs were seen receiving money from representatives of a fictitious company instead of favours. The sting operation was made public ahead of the 2016 assembly elections in West Bengal. The arrested politicians were ministers in the Banerjee’s government at that time.