Saradha Case: Trinamool Minister Madan Mitra's Bail Plea Rejected

Bengal's transport minister Madan Mitra was today denied bail in the Saradha chit fund case, on a day he apparently fell down in the jail bathroom, was found to have high blood pressure and admitted to SSKM hospital in Kolkata.

Bail was denied despite his lawyer pointing out that he had spent 62 days in jail already. A lawyer, flown down from Delhi to Kolkata by the Central Bureau of Investigation or CBI to oppose the bail plea told court, "Your Honour, the man seeking bail, his name is Madan Mitra but he is also 'Money Mitra'."

The CBI opposed bail on the grounds that Mr Mitra was an influential person, closely associated with Saradha employees and part of the larger conspiracy in the case. The lawyer also made certain comments about Mr Mitra's lifestyle in jail which the minister's lawyers vociferously objected to.

Even as arguments were going on in court, Mr Mitra punched a camera lens when a cameraperson poked a video camera into the window of the ambulance in which he was brought from jail to hospital. Mr Mitra emerged from the ambulance and took a wheelchair into the hospital building.

After the bail plea was rejected, the transport minister's lawyers said they would discuss the matter, including moving High Court for bail.

Mr Mitra's lawyers also complained about the insertion of Section 409 of the Indian Penal Code into the chargesheet of the Saradha Realty case in which the transport minister was arrested.

"You can't change your own order," said pro-Trinamool lawyer B Chattopadhyay. "Still 409 was included but we said it was bad in law."

On Monday, lawyers close to the Trinamool had heckled and near-gheraoed a judge for hours to prevent him from correcting what the judge said was a "clerical error" in his direction that had resulted in Section 409 from being dropped from the cognizance taken of the chargesheet.