The Calcutta High Court onWednesday granted anticipatory bail to BJP MP Jagannath Sarkar in connection with the murder case of Trinamool Congress MLA Satyajit Biswas in Nadia district in 2019.The court had earlier granted interim protection from arrest to Sarkar, while directing him to cooperate with the investigation in the case.A division bench comprising justices Joymalya Bagchi and Suvra Ghosh accepted the anticipatory bail plea of Sarkar on two sureties of Rs 50,000 each.He was also directed to appear before the investigating officer of the state CID once every month.Biswas, TMC MLA from Krishnaganj in Nadia district, was shot dead in the evening of February 9 inside a Saraswati Puja marquee near his house at Phoolbari village in Nadia district.Sarkar was elected an MP from Ranaghat Lok Sabha constituency in Nadia district in 2019 on a BJP ticket.Praying for his anticipatory bail, Sarkar's lawyers had claimed that he has been falsely implicated in the case owing to his political identity.The prosecution, opposing his prayer for pre-arrest bail in connection with the case, submitted that Sarkar's name cropped up in the statements of the accused persons who have been arrested for their alleged role in the murder.The high court had on January 24 granted Sarkar interim protection from arrest during pendency of his anticipatory bail prayer.
