Supreme Court Grants Anticipatory Bail To TMC Leader Sheikh Sufiyan In WB Post-Poll Murder Case

The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted anticipatory bail to Trinamool Congress leader Sheikh Sufiyan in a case relating to the murder of a BJP supporter during the West Bengal post-poll violence."We have granted pre-arrest bail but we have imposed several conditions", Justice Abhay S Oka said pronouncing the operative portion of the verdict. Last week, a bench comprising Justice L Nageswara Rao and Justice AS Oka had reserved orders in the special leave petition filed by TMC leader Sheikh Sufiyan assailing Calcutta High Court's order of refusing to grant anticipatory bail. The Top Court on January 20, 2022 had granted interim protection from arrest to Sufiyan who was the polling agent of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Nandigram for the 2021 West Bengal Assembly elections.Sufiyan is an accused in the murder case of BJP worker Debabrata Maity. Maity was allegedly attacked by Trinamool Congress (TMC) workers on May 3, a day after the West Bengal Assembly poll results were announced. He succumbed to his injuries at SSKM Hospital in Kolkata on May 13. Sufiyan was summoned by the CBI back in September 2021 in connection with his alleged involvement in the murder case of Maity.In the High Court's impugned order, a Division Bench comprising Justices Debangsu Basak and Bibahas Ranjan De had observed that, "Considering the gravity of the offence and considering the materials in the case diary and considering the statement recorded under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, implicating the petitioner in the incident and considering the fact that the CBI is conducting the investigation pursuant to the order passed by the Full Bench and considering the fact that the investigations are yet to be concluded, we are unable to grant anticipatory bail to the petitioner"Submission Of Counsels Sufiyan's Name Was Not In The Statement & In The Chargesheet: Senior Advocate Kapil SibalAppearing for Sufiyan, Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal submitted that the incident which took place on May 3, 2021 did not name Sufiyan in the FIR and neither his name was there in the complaint filed. He further submitted that pursuant to commencing the investigation by local police, the investigation was taken over by CBI on August 30, 2021. He also contended that when the first chargesheet on October 5, 2021 was filed, Sufiyan's name was not there and even in the second chargesheet filed on January 6, 2022, he was not made an accused.During the course of hearing, Sibal also highlighted a statement made by a witness u/s 164 CrPC wherein the witness named "Manoj" had said that he "heard" that Sufiyan was the mastermind.In this regards, Sibal said,"This case against the appellant is purely political and completely malafide on the part of authorities. Appellant was not even present at the location. The Investigating Officer has even ascertained the fact by Appellant's mobile phone that he was not there. Even the statement of Manoj does not name the appellant. Notably, Manoj even had not filed any complainant against the appellant."In This Case, Politics Is Being Used To Evade The Law & Politics Has No Role; Co Accused With Whom The Petitioners Are Similarly Situated Are Already In Custody: ASG Aman LekhiAppearing for the CBI, ASG Aman Lekhi while opposing the grant of anticipatory bail submitted that there was no hurry in arrest and seeking Sufiyan's arrest. Emphasizing on the fact that Sufiyan did not appear before the CBI on various dates irrespective of granting interim protection on being called to appear, ASG said,"In the instant case, the requirement of the occasion is what is being borne out from the record. The date is September 29 when he was called by the CBI to attend & he was requested to attend. There was reason to believe that he had some linkage with the same. CBI is not rushing & wanting the appearance. Date of interim protection is Oct 27, 2021. Despite interim protection on being called to appear, petitioner did not appear. Please look at the dates, notwithstanding interim protection & on service of notice, there was no appearance."ASG Lekhi on Sibal's submission submitted that in this case politics had no role to play and was being used to evade the law."Political motivation works both ways. Politics can be used to evade the law and apply the law. In this case, politics is being used to evade the law & politics has no role. Sibal talked about the cases in 2007 suggesting that it's politically motivated & you've dug them out. Where is politics at play? It's at play in the withdrawal, ASG further contended," ASG added.He further submitted that the charge sheet was against 12/13 people and that if the case was legitimate and the occasion to proceed existed, evasion would thwart the investigation."Protection is being sought to evade the process of law which is apparent from the 1st summons that were issued in 2021 itself," ASG Lekhi further added.On the aspect of videotaping, ASG said videotaping would not end the ...

Supreme Court Grants Anticipatory Bail To TMC Leader Sheikh Sufiyan In WB Post-Poll Murder Case

Shruti Kakkar

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