Held in Narada case, Sovan Chatterjee in house arrest after release from hospital

TMC workers protest at CBI office in Kolkata on Monday. Pic/PTI

Former Trinamool Congress leader Sovan Chatterjee, who has been arrested by the CBI in connection with the Narada sting tape case, was discharged from the state-run SSKM Hospital late on Saturday evening on personal risk bond, sources in the hospital said.

Chatterjee, a former mayor of Kolkata, then went to the Presidency Correctional Home, where he was lodged before being admitted to the hospital, signed the necessary documents and left for his residence where he will be under house arrest as per the order of the Calcutta High Court.

The former TMC leader who had quit the party to join the BJP only to leave it before the recently concluded assembly election, suffers from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder (COPD) and is highly diabetic, hospital sources said adding that he has developed cirrhosis of the liver.

He, ministers Subrata Mukherjee and Firhad Hakim, besides TMC MLA Madan Mitra were arrested in the case on Monday morning and they were taken to Presidency Correctional Home at night after the Calcutta High Court stayed their bail granted by a CBI court on the same day.

Also Read: CBI names Mamata Banerjee in Narada case

Chatterjee, Mukherjee and Mitra were later admitted to the hospital after their health condition deteriorated. Hakim had been shifted to a healthcare facility in the correctional home after he developed fever. The Calcutta High Court on Friday ordered their shifting to house arrest from jail incarceration. However, they will continue to remain in judicial custody.

Only Hakim was sent home on Friday while others remained in the hospital. Chatterjee, earlier on Saturday, spoke to the media from a window of the Woodburn Block of the hospital alleging that the authorities at the medical establishment were not discharging him though he had recvered.

Late in the evening, he was released on personal risk bond while Mukherjee and Mitra are still at the SSKM Hospital, sources said. The sting operation was conducted by journalist Mathew Samuel of Narada News, a web portal, in 2014 wherein some people resembling TMC ministers, MPs and MLAs were seen receiving money from representatives of a fictitious company in lieu of favours.

At that time, the four arrested politicians were ministers in the Mamata Banerjee government. The sting operation was made public ahead of the 2016 assembly elections in West Bengal.

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