The Supreme Court on Friday reserved its order on a petition challenging the Calcutta High Court order rejecting West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s election agent S.K. Supian’s anticipatory bail as the documents filed by Supian’s Counsel were not on record.
A Division Bench of Justice L. Nageswara Rao and Justice B.R Gavai were hearing a petition, where the Court had previously granted interim protection to S.K, Supian to vehement opposition of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who had submitted, “He is a very powerful man and that the order of Calcutta HC is of November 2021 and he has managed to evade arrest till now.”
Upon the loss of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee from Nandigram Assembly seat, violence erupted in the constituency and neighbouring area.
CBI was probing the death of BJP worker Debabrata Maity, who was allegedly attacked in Nandigram after a day of declaring the Assembly election results and succumbed to his injuries at SSKM Hospital.
Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal appearing for the petitioner argued that the arrest was politically motivated and Sivendu Adhikari had declared before hand that the petitioner would be arrested, which he was. He further argued that the mobile location of the petitioner was 5 km away from the location of the alleged incident.
ASG Aman Lekhi submitted that the co-accused were already in custody and by the reason of facts the petitioner was not entitled for different treatment. He further argued that just because he was not included in the initial charge sheets does not mean he is not guilty.
He also clarified that the video was only to grasp the gravity of situation and not as evidence against the petitioner and cautioned the court against granting anticipatory bail as it was a Section 302 IPC investigation
Senior Advocate Paramjit Singh Patwalia appearing on behalf of the slain BJP worker’s wife submitted that Supian be denied bail as he was a powerful person and can have an effect on investigation if he comes out.
The Calcutta High Court had ordered a CBI probe into the incidents of killings and sexual assault that took place in the state, allegedly at the behest of the ruling party, after their thumping victory in the Assembly elections.
Supian had been questioned by CBI in the aftermath of post-poll violence at Nandigram. He had applied for anticipatory bail in the Calcutta High Court and the Court had granted him protection from arrest till November 9. This protection had been subsequently lifted by the Calcutta High Court.