The Calcutta High Court on June 9 had refused to accept the reply-affidavits of Mamata Banerjee and Moloy Ghatak. The court was urged by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta that the affidavits cannot be accepted on the ground of delay as they were filed after the completion of his arguments. The next hearing in the case is scheduled for June 29.

 

Mamata Banerjee and Moloy Ghatak moved the Supreme Court against the verdict and the vacation bench of Justices Vineet Saran and Dinesh Maheshwari, while setting aside the Calcutta High Court order refusing to accept the affidavits, asked the duo to file a fresh application in the High Court stating the reason for not filing it earlier, even as hearing in the Narada case had started on May 27 itself.

 

The Supreme Court also asked the High Court to decide on affidavits filed by the ministers first before deciding on the CBI plea seeking transfer of the case.

 

The CBI has made a plea to transfer the case to any other state, anticipating that in Bengal the high-profile leaders involved in the Narada sting tape case might influence the case. The five-member bench will hear the case on June 29.

 

The CBI had made Mamata Banerjee and Moloy Ghatak parties to the Narada case, claiming they had influenced the agency's operation and the CBI court's verdict by visiting the Nizam Palace office in Kolkata when three TMC leaders were arrested.

 

On May 17, ministers Subrata Mukherjee and Firhad Hakim, Trinamool Congress MLA Madan Mitra and former mayor of Kolkata Sovan Chatterjee were arrested by the CBI, which is investigating the Narada sting tape case.