The hearing of the bail plea of the four politicians, including two Cabinet ministers, arrested in connection with the 2016 Narada sting operation case will be continued by the Calcutta high court on Thursday.

The division bench of acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal and justice Arijit Banerjee, on Wednesday, heard the bail pleas of the arrested leaders.

Cabinet ministers Firhad Hakim and Subrata Mukherjee, TMC legislator Madan Mitra, and former mayor Sovan Chatterjee were arrested by the CBI on Monday. They have spent three nights in judicial custody after the high court stayed the interim bail granted to them by a special CBI court.

A Trinamool Congress leader said, “The matter did not end on Wednesday. The court decided to hear it again on Thursday around 2pm.”

On Wednesday, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) alleged that while filing nomination for the recently held assembly election, BJP vice-president and West Bengal MLA Mukul Roy has suppressed in the affidavit that he was an accused in the Narada sting tape case.

TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh claimed that another BJP MLA Suvendu Adhikari had mentioned the Narada case in his affidavit, but he did not specify the sections under which it was filed.

The bail of the leaders arrested in Narada case was opposed by the CBI on the ground that they can influence the witnesses and investigation. The central agency also sought transfer of the trial of the case.

A high-pitched courtroom battle was seen on Wednesday with senior advocates Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Siddharth Luthra and Kalyan Banerjee, who also happens to be a TMC MP, pleading for the arrested leaders. Appearing for the CBI, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, opposed the bail. The leaders had to be admitted in hospitals after their complaint of illness on Tuesday, even though they were sent to judicial custody.

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On May 9, Raj Bhawan in Kolkata had said in a statement that the governor had accorded prosecution sanction to the CBI against three TMC MLAs, Madan Mitra, Subrata Mukherjee and Firhad Hakim, and former party leader Sovan Chatterjee. This statement authorized the agency to file the charge sheet against the four. That led to arrest of the four TMC leaders by CBI. Following that, Mamata Banerjee had written to the President asking to change the governor in the interest of good governance in the state.

The controversy began because the governor used the friction between the centre and the state to initiate prosecution in Narada case by giving his consent. Under normal constitutional procedure, the consent would have been needed from the speaker of the assembly.

Article 163(2) in part six of Indian constitution is important for the discretionary power of governor, which might have been invoked by governor Dhankar.

After the arrests of the TMC leaders, CBI court saw a gathering of 2000-3000 TMC supporters infront of its Kolkata office. The crowd had sent social distancing norms for a toss. Caught off-guard, the CBI court granted bail to the arrested leaders. This reaction by the CBI court refreshes the 2013 observation on the agency by Supreme Court in a coal scam case. Supreme Court had then called CBI a caged parrot.