Narada sting case: Justice Anirudddha Bose recuses from hearing plea of West Bengal

Kolkata, June 22: In what comes as a recent development, the Supreme Court judge Justice Aniruddha Bose on Tuesday has recused from hearing the petitions filed by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Law Minister Moloy Ghatak in relation to the Narada sting operation case.

The petitions were listed before a vacation bench comprising Justices Hemant Gupta and Aniruddha Bose.

Justice Bose said that he was recusing from hearing those cases. Justice Hemant Gupta has requested the Chief Justice to form another bench today itself to hear the cases, if possible.

On Friday, another bench led by Justice Hemant Gupta had requested the Calcutta high court to defer its hearing of the case in view of the petitions filed in the Supreme Court.

Earlier, Justice Indira Banerjee had recused from hearing a case related to post-poll violence in West Bengal.

The petitions filed by West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee and Moloy Ghatak challenge the order passed by a 5-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court on June 9 refusing to permit them to file affidavits in response to the CBI's plea to transfer the Narada case.

It may be recalled that the CBI is seeking the transfer of Narada case hearing from the Special CBI Court at Kolkata on the ground that the there is 'mobocracy' in the state. The CBI is highlighting the mass protests led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Law Minister Moloy Ghatak on May 17 against the arrest of 4 TMC leaders in the Narada case.