RANCHI: In a major relief to the three suspended Congress legislators who were arrested in Kolkata with cash in their vehicle allegedly paid to them for toppling the Hemant Soren government in Jharkhand, the MP-MLA Court in Kolkata ordered the release of the vehicles seized from the spot on July 30.
Irfan Ansari, one of the three MLAs arrested by the Kolkata Police, said that though the order was passed on September 27, the vehicles were released on Sunday. The court also said that there is nothing on record to give rise to the belief that the money recovered from them was meant for a conspiracy to topple the Jharkhand government, Ansari added.
“It is a relief for us,” Ansari said. “It is a start of the end of our sufferings, which we have been undergoing for two months,” he added, saying that he has been framed under a conspiracy by his opponents.
“We have already been granted interim bail and the court has asked us to enjoy Durga Puja in Kolkata, which is celebrated here with great fervour. We believe that we will soon be granted regular bail as the court has already observed that no proof of any conspiracy to topple the government has been found so far,” Ansari said.
According to him, the Calcutta High Court observed, “Even if these materials are taken into consideration, apart from the solitary complaint of the de-facto complainant which was lodged after the arrest of the petitioners, there is nothing on record to give rise to the reasonable belief that the money recovered from them were in the nature of illegal gratification to induce the petitioners to participate in the conspiracy to topple the democratically elected government in Jharkhand.”
The high court on August 17 granted interim bail to all five accused persons, including the three suspended Congress MLAs – Irfan Ansari, Naman Bixal Kongari and Rajesh Kachhap, arrested by West Bengal Police in connection with the cash seizure case.
While granting bail, the High Court also directed them not to leave Kolkata for three months. Meanwhile, the court ordered for transfer of the case to the MP-MLA court for conducting the trial. The three MLAs were caught with `49 lakh in their vehicle, outside Howrah on July 30.