A five-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court on Friday granted interim bail to the quartet of Subrata Mukherjee, Firhad Hakim, Madan Mitra and Sovan Chatterjee under judicial custody since May 17 in connection with the Narada bribery sting operation case.

The five-judge bench comprising acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal, Justices IP Mukerji, Harish Tandon, Soumen Sen and Arijit Mukherjee while granting interim bail has expressly barred the four--- two ministers, a legislator and a politician without a political party--- not to give interviews on the case or hold any discussions on it in the media.

The four will have to submit personal bonds worth Rs.2 lakh each and join the investigation by video conference.

The Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing on behalf of the CBI opposed the interim bail, arguing that the four were influential people and the possibility of them whipping public support for themselves existed.

The bench questioned the Solicitor General what purpose was being served by arresting them now when the agency did not take any such action while the investigation was on for the last four years.

“We want to make one observation. The investigation started in 2017. They were not arrested during the investigation. Normally, an arrest is to facilitate investigation. They continue to be as powerful as earlier. Why arrest now?” asked Justice IP Mukerji, the second senior judge of the bench.

To this, the Solicitor General pleaded that if they were granted bail they should not be allowed to talk to the media and if they have to attend court or investigation, they cannot gather a crowd.

“If interim bail is to be granted, I have two prayers- interim bail must be subject to a final order of the case. That is, if I succeed, the interim bail must be cancelled,” said Mehta. “Second condition. That the accused may not give press interviews, media statements, etc on the subject matter of the case and that if they are required to attend court or investigation, they may not gather a crowd or a mob.”

Senior advocate Sidharth Luthra suggested that the accused can join the investigation by video conferences, but asked the central probe agency if it had completed the investigation why would it need the accused to be present.

Earlier in the day, a sitting judge of the Calcutta high court Justice Arindam Sinha in a letter to the acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal and other judges objected to the manner in which the transfer plea filed by the CBI was listed as a writ petition.

The letter states, the Appellate Side Rules of the High Court—under which comes the procedure of listings—say that a motion seeking transfer either on the civil or criminal side has to be heard by a Single Judge.

“The first division bench took up the matter treating it to be a writ petition. Even a writ petition under Article 228 of the Constitution should have gone to the single judge having determination,” the letter reads.

Justice Sinha also questioned the manner in which the division bench stayed the bail granted by the CBI special court on May 17.

“Whether the High Court exercising power in the matter of transfer of a criminal case at this stage on its own initiative could have passed the order of stay is the second question,” the judge stated in the letter.

Justice Sinha called upon the high court to get its act together.

“Our conduct is unbecoming of the majesty the High Court commands. We have been reduced to a mockery,” the letter read.