Milan Pradhan, the Congress candidate for the Nandigram bypolls, was booked on Wednesday in the 11th case related to the violence that broke out during the anti-land acquisition movement here in 2007.
As a result, the Contai Sub-Divisional Court has remanded him to judicial custody till October 7—one day after polling for the bypolls in Nandigram and Rejinagar had been scheduled to take place.
This has further fuelled the uncertainty around his candidature, due to which the Congress is now mulling whether to bring his wife into the fray, in order to contest the bypolls on his behalf.
However, if she begins campaigning for Pradhan, the sympathy votes for the Nandigram seat will be split between him and the BJP candidate, Hasirani Rath, who is the mother of CM Adhikari's slain aide, Chandranath Rath.
On the other hand, a case is being filed in the Calcutta High Court to prevent action being taken against Pradhan in a number of cases. Justice Saugata Bhattacharya on Wednesday separately summoned Pradhan's lawyer to know about the various cases in detail.
The Calcutta High Court has also agreed to an urgent hearing of his bail plea.
This brings the total number of cases against the Congress leader to 11, of which he was arrested in five, while the previous government dismissed five, and he was not wanted in one case.
With the new developments, two cases warrant his arrest now, despite the state assuring in a Tuesday hearing that no new cases would be filed against him, a Sangbad Pratidin report said.
Due to the new case being filed that led to his remand till October 7, his bail plea will be heard by the Calcutta High Court on Thursday, which has claimed that the state did not mention this case during that Tuesday hearing.
Notably, Pradhan's arrest came hours after former CM and Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee backed him for the bypolls, following the sudden withdrawal of her own candidate, Sanchita Pradhan Dey, from the fray.
State Congress leaders have also claimed that he had finished the nomination and scrutiny process, questioning why the case details were not brought up then.
