Congress Nandigram candidate granted interim bail to campaign for October 6 bye-poll

The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday granted interim bail to Congress’ Nandigram candidate in six criminal cases from 2007, allowing him to campaign for the October 6 bye-poll, Live Law reported.

Milan Pradhan has been directed to surrender before the trial court by October 21, PTI reported.

Pradhan was arrested on September 18 in connection with a 2007 murder case. He was subsequently shown to be arrested in five other cases.

The arrest had come hours after former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said her faction of the Trinamool Congress would support Pradhan in the October 6 bye-poll. Minutes earlier, the faction’s candidate had withdrawn her nomination, shortly after photographs of her meeting West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari were shared online.

On Tuesday, Justice Tirthankar Ghosh said that Pradhan had been arrested after filing his nomination papers and should be given an opportunity to contest the bye-poll.

Pradhan has been booked in cases related to the protests in Nandigram in 2007 against the plans by the Left Front government at the time to set up a chemical hub. Fourteen persons were killed in police firing during the protests.

On Tuesday, the High Court noted the police had “more than sufficient” time to execute the warrants against him, and that the state government had produced no material to...

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