The Calcutta High Court granted interim bail to the Congress's Nandigram candidate, Milan Pradhan, in six criminal cases from 2007. The court directed him to surrender before the trial court by October 21.
On Tuesday, the Calcutta High Court granted interim bail to the Congress’ Nandigram candidate, Milan Pradhan, in six criminal cases from 2007. This decision allows him to campaign for the upcoming October 6 bye-poll. The court directed Pradhan to surrender before the trial court by October 21, as reported by PTI.
The arrest of Pradhan on September 18 in connection with a 2007 murder case was followed by his arrest in five other cases. The arrest came hours after former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced her faction of the Trinamool Congress would support Pradhan in the bye-poll.
Justice Tirthankar Ghosh stated that Pradhan had been arrested after filing his nomination papers and should be given an opportunity to contest the bye-poll. The court noted that the police had ‘more than sufficient’ time to execute the warrants against him and that the state government had produced no material to show that he had been wanted in any case after 2007. Pradhan has been booked in cases related to the protests in Nandigram in 2007 against the plans by the Left Front government at the time to set up a chemical hub, during which fourteen persons were killed in police firing.
The High Court directed Pradhan to furnish a bail bond of Rs 20,000 in each of the six cases. On Thursday, the High Court had said that it was ‘surprising’ that Pradhan was arrested in a sixth case from 2007 while he was in custody.
Justice Saugata Bhattacharyya had directed the police not to take any coercive action against Pradhan in connection with the sixth case till October 12, adding that the Congress candidate should not be treated as arrested in the case.
Source:
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