CBI moves high court against Madan Mitra’s bail

Kolkata: The CBI on Tuesday moved the Calcutta High Court seeking cancellation of bail granted to West Bengal Transport Minister and Saradha scam accused Madan Mitra, claiming it to be illegal.

Pressing for the cancellation of the bail, the CBI counsel said the order by the sessions court granting bail, was illegally passed.

"The order by the sessions court is illegal because, it is mandatory that such a court issues notice to the public prosecutor before going ahead with the proceedings. Despite the fact that no such notice was issued, the court went ahead with the proceedings and passed an illegal order," said counsel.

A division bench of Justice Harish Tandon and Justice Ishan Chandra Das adjourned the hearing till November 5 observing that Mitra should be given an opportunity to be represented at the court and directed the prosecution to serve a notice to Mitra's counsel.

Indicted by the agency of cheating, conspiracy and criminal breach of trust in the multi-crore-rupee scam, Mitra was granted bail by a lower court on Saturday nearly 11 months after his arrest on December 12 last.

The CBI move came on a day when Mitra, who was on Sunday discharged from the government-run SSKM Hospital where he spent most of his incarceration period, was admitted to a private hospital in the city.

A five member medical board has been constituted to look after the minister who has been admitted with complaints of chest pain, mild breathlessness and erratic sleep pattern, the hospital said in a statement.

Mitra's moving to a hospital yet again drew ridicule from opposition parties which have been strongly criticising the SSKM hospital authorities for finding him fit within 24 hours of getting bail.

According to jail authorities, Mitra spent less than 50 days in the prison since he was sent to judicial custody on December 19.

(IANS)