In an abrupt development Bengal Transport and Sports Minister Madan Mitra who was currently under house arrest in the Saradha chit fund case on Wednesday tendered his resignation which was promptly accepted by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee sources said.
The development came after the CBI lawyers challenging Mitra’s bail in Calcutta High Court harped on his ability to influence the investigation on account of his being an “influential person.”
Mitra who was in judicial custody for the past more than ten months before suddenly getting bail in a lower court was put under house arrest by a vacation bench of the High Court till the matter seeking cancellation of his bail by the CBI was finally disposed off.
The Division Bench of Justice Nishita Mhatre on Wednesday heard the CBI petition and put off the final judgement for Thursday. While Mitra’s counsel tried to convince the Court that he had tendered his resignation even before his arrest when his name first appeared in the Saradha scam the Court countered the argument saying that the very fact that his resignation was turned proved his clout in the Government.
The CBI also contended that Mitra spent most of his incarceration period in the Presidential suit of the State-run SSKM Hospital which was reserved for the President, Governors, Prime Minister Chief Minister and Chief Justices.
Besides underscoring his influential status the Agency also argued that the medical report it had was provided by the jail authorities showed that he was given vitamin tablets and some nasal drops during his hospitalisation.