Calcutta high court on Thursday granted conditional bail to three Jharkhand Congress MLAs who were arrested in West Bengal with unaccounted cash worth around ₹50 lakh in July this year and were on interim bail.
The matter had come up for hearing in the division bench comprising justice Joymalya Bagchi and justice Ajay Kumar Gupta.
Koustav Bagchi, counsel of Jharkhand MLA Kumar Jaimangal Singh, who was complainant in the case, said, “The Calcutta high court granted bail to all the three Jharkhand legislators on Thursday.”
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Five persons including three Congress MLAs from Jharkhand — Irfan Ansari, Rajesh Kachchap and Naman Bixal Kongari — were apprehended from Panchla in Howrah district on July 30.
Police had seized ₹49 lakh in cash from the vehicle in which they were travelling.
A day later, they were arrested by Kolkata police after Congress MLA Jaimangal Singh filed a zero FIR against the three legislators in Ranchi alleging that the trio was involved in a conspiracy to pull down the Hemant Soren government in collusion with the BJP and had offered him ₹10 crore besides a ministerial berth in the new government.
They were later granted interim bail by the Calcutta high court on August 17 this year.
However, it restricted them from going to Jharkhand with directions that they would have to stay in Kolkata for three months.
“They were granted bail but with caveat that they to appear before the investigating officer every 15 days. They have been barred from entering Assam as investigation is going on. The legislators can, however, travel to Jharkhand,” said a senior advocate of Calcutta high court.
Congress had suspended the three legislators soon after their arrest and have also moved an anti-defection petition seeking their disqualification from the assembly.
The petition is presently being heard in the Speaker’s tribunal.
All three legislators will be reaching Ranchi by Friday morning and attend the one-way special session of the assembly.
“We were confident that we would get justice because we are innocent and have been framed by a legislator. We have no idea why he filed a complaint against us. The time we spent here in past three months was very difficult. But we want to thank our well-wishers who stood by us,” said Ansari.
