Calcutta HC offers Mukul Roy the opportunity to attend PM's rally in Nadia on Wednesday

KOLKATA: The Calcutta high court on Tuesday allowed BJP leader Mukul Roy to attend an election rally to be addressed by prime minister Narendra Modi in Nadia district on Wednesday. Accused of conspiracy in the murder of Trinamool Congress MLA Satyajit Biswas in Nadia, Roy had been barred by the high court from entering the district as a condition for granting him interim anticipatory bail.

A division bench comprising Justices Joymalya Bagchi and M Mandal allowed Roy to enter Nadia on Wednesday and attend the PM's rally at Ranaghat, following which he would have to leave the district by evening.

The court, however, refused to grant him permission to attend four other BJP rallies in Nadia from April 25 to April 27, observing that those were not so important and that he can address the rallies through video conferencing.

Advocate General Kishore Dutta opposed Roy's prayer for allowing him to attend the rallies, submitting that investigation in the murder case is at a critical stage and the presence of the petitioner, who is an influential political figure, may affect the progress of the investigation.

Roy's counsel Phiroze Edulji prayed for relaxation of conditions of interim anticipatory bail, claiming he was looking after the campaign for the Lok Sabha polls for the BJP in West Bengal and his presence is necessary for election meetings in the district.

TMC's Krishnaganj MLA Biswas was shot dead in front of his house on the day of Saraswati Puja during a cultural programme on February 10.

Roy was one of the four persons named in the FIR and was accused of conspiracy in the killing.

Rupali, the widow of Biswas, has been made a candidate for Ranaghat Lok Sabha seat, within which Krishnaganj is an assembly constituency, by the Trinamool Congress.