The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the Calcutta High Court's June 9 order on refusal to accept the reply affidavits of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and state Law Minister Moloy Ghatak on the CBI's transfer plea in relation to the much-debated Narada scam case.
Justices Vineet Saran and Dinesh Maheshwari of the vacation bench urged the five-judge bench of the high court, headed by Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal, to reconsider the pleas of Banerjee, Ghatak and the state government before deciding on the CBI petition seeking transfer of the scam case to the high court itself.
The top court was hearing three appeals including that of the state government challenging the high court's denial for filing of affidavits by Banerjee and Ghatak in their role on the day of arrest of four Trinamool Congress leaders on May 17 by CBI in the Narada scam case.
It has been alleged that the state ruling party leaders played a key role in stopping the CBI from performing its legal duty after the arrest of four leaders in the case.
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.
(With inputs from PTI)
