KOLKATA: Stuck in CBI custody for five days, transport minister Madan Mitra kept to the party script on Tuesday, crying “political vendetta” by the Narendra Modi government even as his party colleagues made the same charges in Parliament.
Produced at Alipore court under tight security, the minister said: “They’ve (CBI) held me for five days without asking a single question. I am under pressure. Some people with their faces covered are standing around me round-the-clock. They are trying to make me spell out names of my party colleagues. They want me to say that Mamata Banerjee took money from Saradha Group. I am traumatized. They are trying to ruin me mentally.”
Sensing that the coercion cry may not be enough to get him bail, the minister also complained of failing health. “I have multiple ailments — high cholesterol, sleep apnea, my urine has traces of blood. I am undergoing psychiatric treatment. CBI has taken to terror tactic. I am a minister. My family has lived in Kolkata since 1885. I am not going to escape. I am ready to accept any punishment. My lordship, don’t send me to custody,” he pleaded with additional chief judicial magistrate Haradhan Mukherjee. The court, however, sent him to CBI custody for four more days.
CM Mamata Banerjee gives her speech in a meeting against the arrest of the transport and sports minister of her cabinet, Madan Mitra, in Kolkata on Saturday.
Mitra was brought to Alipore court at 2.55 pm. Hours before that, 45 busloads of Trinamool supporters descended on the court premises. Each carrying a poster of the minister, they raised slogans – Madan Mitra amra tomar sange achhi (we are with you). They showered flowers on their leader as he walked into the courtroom, but didn’t attempt to breach the barricades. In order to prevent a repeat of Saturday, when Mitra’s supporters had gone berserk, six deputy commissioners led a huge team to put up a human wall to ensure his smooth passage. On Monday, CBI had written to Kolkata and Bidhannagar police seeking more security during Mitra’s court appearance.
Inside the courtroom, however, there was utter chaos. With no cops to man the entrance, lawyers with Trinamool affiliation packed the room. While Mitra was offered a chair to the left of the ACJM, lawyers pushed and shoved to catch a glimpse of the minister.
CBI lawyer Partha Sarathi Datta sought Mitra’s custody for five days. Investigating officer F B Karna submitted that the agency had recovered electronic data that might give it more leads in the Saradha case. The agency will soon send the data to a central forensic science laboratory for verification, he said.
Large numbers of TMC supporters gather on both flank of the road approaching Alipore court for Madan Mitra’s production.
Moving the bail plea for Mitra, lawyer Ashoke Mukherjee said, “CBI claims to have recovered some electronic data that needs to be verified. If so, what is the reason for further custody?” Mitra’s defence counsel also wondered why the agency had to arrest Mitra when his name doesn’t figure in any of the 60 cases initiated by the investigators. “The CBI chargesheet names nine persons. Sajjan Agarwal happens to be one of them, but Agarwal has not yet been taken into custody,” Mukherjee pointed out.
Citing a Supreme Court order of 2010, Mitra’s counsel Niladri Bhattacharjee challenged the CBI move to send voice samples of the accused for forensic tests. “The apex court order states that the investigating agency can’t take voice samples of the accused unless he allows it voluntarily,” Bhattacharjee said.
The court accepted the plea and asked CBI not to send the minister’s voice sample for forensic tests.
TOI | Dec 17, 2014
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