New Delhi: A second Supreme Court Judge has dropped out of a case involving West Bengal in fortnight . Justice Aniruddha Bose, who is from Kolkata, today withdrew from a case involving Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s petition within the Narada bribery case, saying: “I don’t want to listen to this case.”
A bench headed by Justice Vineet Saran will hear the Chief Minister’s plea on Friday. “This may be a new case which has come to us now. we’ve not yet read the file. So allow us to have it on Friday,” Justice Saran said.
Last week, Justice Indira Banerjee, who is additionally from Kolkata, had opted out of a separate case associated with violence in parts of Bengal after the May 2 state election verdict that gave Mamata Banerjee a huge victory. A petition asked for a CBI or Special Investigation Team probe into the killing of two BJP workers within the clashes between political workers.
Today’s case is linked to petitions within the Supreme Court by the Bengal Chief Minister and state Law Minister Moloy Ghatak challenging the Calcutta High Court’s refusal to require on record their affidavits within the Narada case.
The Chief Minister and Law Minister wanted to file affidavits to present their version on the CBI’s request to shift the Narada case out of Bengal on grounds of pressure from the government .
But the supreme court said they both took the calculated risk of not filing affidavits at the proper time, “now they can’t be allowed to file the affidavits at their own whims and fancies.”
The CBI has asked for the Narada hearing to be transferred out citing “mobocracy” within the state. Its argument is predicated on Mamata Banerjee’s protest at the CBI office when four Trinamool leaders were arrested within the bribery case on May 17. The CBI also alleged that when the arrested leaders were being produced in court, the Law Minister landed there with a mob.
The Narada case involves a bunco by a journalist during which several Trinamool leaders were allegedly caught on camera accepting wads of money in bribe.