While a team of highly qualified doctors failed to bring a patient round in last 11 months, a judicial order did the trick on Sunday.
Madan Mitra, a key member in the Mamata Banerjee Cabinet, who on Saturday was released on bail by a lower court in the high-profile Saradha chit fund case walked free within 24 hours of what he termed “winning the final match” from the SSKM super-specialty hospital where he had been getting treatment for his alleged ailments.
Along with Mitra another jailed accused Sandhir Agarwal who was also undergoing treatment at a private hospital for his alleged ailments also secured bail on Saturday.
Soon after coming out of the hospital a “fit” Mitra told the media that “we have won the final match” adding “this is the victory of truth and people of Bengal.” Mitra is the Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs.
Taken aback at Mitra’s getting bail from a vacation bench, senior High Court lawyers smelt a rat in the entire affair. Bikash Bhattacharya the senior counsel who fought the case in the apex court in favour of a CBI investigation wondered “how can a court allow bail without seeing the case diary. This is unprecedented.”
When reminded that the CBI had been directed earlier to place the case diary he said “at most the officials concerned could have been reprimanded and explanations could have been. But giving bail in such a serious case and that too on the grounds that had earlier been rejected by the High Court is something extraordinary.”
A section of the ruling Trinamool Congress lawyers said there were sufficient chances of the bail getting cancelled once the CBI moved it in High Court on Monday.
When Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who was touring North Bengal and who had retained Mitra in her Cabinet despite his arrest was asked to comment on the issue she said “this is a legal matter and I should not make a comment.”
Incidentally in the past 11 months Mitra spent less than 50 days in jail and remaining period in the VVIP Woodburn Ward of the SSKM Hospital which functioned under the Health Ministry headed by Banerjee herself.
While the BJP bore the maximum brunt of the Opposition attack for what Congress leader Adhir Chowdhury said “letting the accused go for political reasons by manipulating the CBI” a large section of the Trinamool leadership maintained a studied silence.
However TMC workers of Panihati, Mitra’s Assembly constituency in northern fringes of Kolkata burst crackers and celebrated Diwali throughout Sunday. “We were sure that he will come out clean at least before the next year’s elections and that he has done so” said a follower.