KOLKATA: Daughter of West Bengal minister Firhad Hakim, arrested in the Narada sting case, Shabba Hakim has appealed to TMC supporters and her fathers followers not to gather in front of the correctional home or their residence on Wednesday when the Calcutta High Court will hear the Narada case again.
Alleging that the CBI could grab the opportunity to showcase that the law and order was breaking down, in case supporters of arrested Trinamool Congress leaders staged protests as they did on Monday, Shabba appealed to supporters to stay at home and desist from violating Covid safety protocols.
"Besides, chief minister Mamata Banerjee, we have been appealing to baba's (fathers) supporters not to gather outside our residence or in front of Presidency Correctional Home but to stay at home amid this Covid pandemic. We have personally telephoned our party workers appealing to them on this. We do not want the CBI to take advantage when the court hears us tomorrow," Hakim told PTI.
On Monday, TMC supporters had taken to the streets and protested outside CBI offices at Nizam Palace, Presidency Correctional Home and Raj Bhavans.
Some had taken to pelting stones, while others raised slogans.
Shabba, who is a doctor by profession also said that her father is not really bothered about his plight in jail, but his inability to discharge his duties amid the COVID-19 surge has left him ill at ease.
In the morning, Shabba had met Hakim in the Presidency correctional home here.
"Baba is not sad because he is away from us. What concerns him is the work that he was supposed to undertake amid the COVID-19 crisis. He would leave home every morning to attend to the people in need of help," Shabba rued.
She also said the state transport minister was trying to cope with the sudden turn of events.
"As of now, Baba is okay. We are keeping a tab on his health condition. But we are also worried. The Supreme Court had noted that chances of virus transmission were high in prison," she added.
The CBI on Monday arrested two state ministers - Firhad Hakim and Subrata Mukherjee besides MLA Madan Mitra and former party leader Sovan Chatterjee in connection with its probe into the Narada sting operation, which purportedly caught politicians accepting bribes on camera.
They were initially granted interim bail by a special CBI court, but the central probe agency subsequently moved the Calcutta High Court, which stayed the lower court order till further hearing.
Taking to Twitter, Shabba, the second of Hakim's three daughters, had criticised the CBI on Monday afternoon for not releasing the four leaders, despite the lower court having granted them bail.
"Even after the bail order has come through, CBI is detaining @FirhadHakim, @MLA_Subrata, @madanmitraoff and Sovan Chatterjee illegally. They are disregarding the verdict of the court.#shamecbi," she had tweeted.