SC grants anticipatory bail to Mamata's poll agent in murder case

The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted anticipatory bail to S K Supiyan, the election agent of West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee and TMC leader in a case of murder BJP worker Debabrata Maiti in Nandigram after the Assembly polls results.

The case is being investigated by the CBI.

A bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and Abhay S Oka allowed Supian's plea for pre-arrest on conditions.

The top court had February 4 reserved its judgment after hearing arguments on the plea moved by Supiyan against the Calcutta High Court order, which refused to entertain his bail plea.

The court had earlier granted him interim protection from arrest in the matter.

In its affidavit, the CBI opposed the plea of Supiyan, saying he hatched a criminal conspiracy to teach a lesson to Hindus, who voted for BJP resulting in loss of the TMC candidate in Nandigram Assembly constituency. The agency claimed that Supian allegedly carried out violent attacks on local villagers, causing the death of one Debabrata Maity.

Mamata Banerjee, who had contested from Nandigram, lost the election to her former aide-turned-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Suvendu Adhikari.

The Calcutta High Court had ordered a CBI probe into various incidents of killings and sexual assault, which occurred in the state after election results were declared.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Supiyan, claimed that his client’s name was not mentioned either in the FIR registered by the authorities in May last year, or in the complaint and also, he was not named in the chargesheets filed by the CBI.

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