Narada tapes case: CBI court rejects SMH Mirza's bail plea

A special CBI court on Wednesday rejected the bail plea of suspended IPS officer SMH Mirza, who was arrested by the central agency for corruption in connection with the Narada tapes case, extending his judicial remand till November 26. Mirza's counsel pleaded before the Kolkata court that his client is in no manner connected with the scandal but has been in custody for 49 days.

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He prayed to the court to grant Mirza bail as there's been no progress in the case since his arrest. CBI lawyers pleaded that Mirza's appeal be rejected as his custodial remand was needed further for interrogation. Mirza was the Burdwan superintendent of police when he was allegedly caught in a sting operation carried out by Mathew Samuel, the editor of Narada news portal, in 2014.

He was arrested on September 26 this year and produced before the court, which had initially remanded him to CBI custody for five days. The court had remanded Mirza to judicial custody for 14 days on September 30 and had extended it twice. The Narada tapes surfaced ahead of the 2016 West Bengal Assembly polls.

In the tapes, persons resembling senior Trinamool Congress leaders and Mirza were seen accepting money from representatives of a fictitious company in return for favours. The Calcutta High Court had ordered a CBI probe into the Narada sting operation case on public interest litigation, which sought an impartial investigation into the footage.

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