Supreme Court reserves order in anticipatory bail plea by Mamata Banerjee's election agent SK Supiyan

The Supreme Court on Friday reserved its order in a plea filed by Mamata Banerjee's election agent SK Supiyan seeking anticipatory bail in a murder case being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation [SK Supiyan @ Suffiyan @ Supisan v. Central Bureau of Investigation]..A Division Bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and Abhay S Oka was hearing a plea moved by Supiyan challenging an order of the Calcutta High Court which had rejected his bail plea.On January 20, the Supreme Court had granted interim protection from arrest to Supiyan in the matter. .Before the Supreme Court, Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal appearing for the appellant argued that Supiyan's name was not mentioned either in the first information report (FIR) registered by the authorities on May 3, 2021 or in the complaint.He pointed out that Supiyan was also not named in the chargesheets filed by the CBI. He also contended that only one of the many witnesses whose statements were recorded by the investigating authorities, named Supiyan as being involved in the present case.As regard the witness Manoj who name Supiyan, Sibal said that he was not even on the list of witnesses, and has given a completely different picture of the incident in comparison to the statements made by other witnesses and the cannot be sustained before the Court."Even the statement of Manoj does not name the appellant. Notably, Manoj had not filed any complainant against the appellant. Manoj should have reported to NHRC or police authorities if he had faced any threat from the appellant," Sibal stated.Sibal argued that Manoj, who is a BJP worker, is a planted witness, proving that the case against appellant was purely political and completely malafide on the part of authorities."Appellant was not even present at the location. The investigating officer at the time of investigation has even ascertained the fact from the applicant's mobile phone that he was not there," Sibal submitted..On the other hand, Additional Solicitor General Aman Lekhi appearing for the CBI, argued that by virtue of Section 41 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), even an apprehension of danger on the part of a person involved in unlawful activities is sufficient for arrest.He submitted that the appellant has been running away from the investigation as even after being served several notices (or summons) to appear before the investigation authorities, he has not cooperated with the investigation."When there is occasion to investigate and obligation to attend, the appellant has to co-operate which he has not done since he has not responded to the summons," the ASG stated.Lekhi submitted that the present appellant should not be granted bail since there is no political motivation involved in the case. Moreover, the other co-accused involved in the case are also in the custody, it was pointed out.Supplementing the submissions of the ASG, Senior Advocate PS Patwalia argued that Supiyan being the election agent of the Chief Minister, is very powerful and therefore, the extraordinary concession of anticipatory bail in a murder case should not be granted to such a powerful man..On being asked by Justice Nageswara Rao as to why Supiyan was not cooperating in the investigation, Sibal and Senior Advocate Sidharth Luthra who also appeared for the appellant, assured the Court that the appellant will join the investigation."This is a complete political motivated case. Merely because this is a 302 case, the statement of the witnesses cannot be ignored, where I am not even named in it. Appellant has not brought politics in this case, it is the respondent," Sibal concluded..The CBI is probing the killing of a BJP worker in the Nandigram constituency, which took place during the post-poll violence that transpired in West Bengal after the Mamata Banerjee-led All-India Trinamool Congress (TMC) won a convincing victory in the State assembly polls in May 2021.Mamata Banerjee, who had contested from Nandigram, had lost the election though.The Calcutta High Court had later ordered a CBI probe into various incidents of killings and sexual assault that took place in the State allegedly at the behest of the ruling TMC..[Read Order]