Narada scam: Calcutta HC accepts Mamata Banerjee, law minister's affidavit with Rs 5000 fine

In a major development, the Calcutta High court on Wednesday accepted affidavits of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Law Minister Moloy Ghatak in connection with the Narada scam case. Scheduling the next hearing on July 15th, the court allowed the filing against Rs 5000 per head.

A five-judge Bench of the Calcutta High Court was hearing the Narada case.

The development comes after Banerjee on Monday had filed a fresh affidavit in Calcutta High Court in the Narada case as directed by the apex court.

Earlier, the top court had asked Banerjee, Ghatak and the State government to approach the Calcutta High Court with their application to take on record their affidavits over allegations about their role on the day of the arrest of Trinamool Congress leaders by the CBI in the Narada scam case.

The Calcutta High Court on June 9 had refused to accept the reply-affidavits of Banerjee.

On June 9, the court, while hearing CBI's application for transfer of the Narada sting tape case from the special CBI court to the High Court, had said it will decide later on considering the affidavits by the Banerjee, Ghatak and State on their respective roles on the day of the arrest of four leaders in connection with the case.

The CBI had made the Chief Minister and the Law Minister parties in its transfer plea there.

The CBI had claimed that while the Chief Minister had sat on a dharna at the CBI office in Kolkata soon after the arrest of the four accused, Ghatak had been present at the Banshall Court premises during the virtual hearing of the case before the special CBI court there on May 17.

Ministers Subrata Mukherjee and Firhad Hakim, Trinamool Congress MLA Madan Mitra and former mayor of Kolkata Sovan Chatterjee were arrested by the CBI which is investigating the Narada sting tape case on a 2017 order of the High Court.

On May 17 itself, the Special CBI court had granted them bail, however, the High Court had stayed the order, which remanded them to judicial custody. They had been placed under house arrest on May 21 by the High Court, modifying its earlier order of stay on the bail.

Journalist Mathew Samuel of Narada News, a web portal, had conducted a Narada sting operation in 2014 wherein some people resembling TMC ministers, MPs and MLAs were seen receiving money from representatives of a fictitious company in lieu of favours.

The four arrested politicians were ministers in the Mamata Banerjee government at that time. Ahead of the 2016 Assembly elections in West Bengal, the sting operation was made public.