Gurjant Singh, the driver of the truck that had intruded into railway minister Mamata Banerjee’s convoy at Kolaghat when she was returning to Kolkata after her rally at Lalgarh on August 9, was granted interim bail by a Tamluk court on Wednesday. However, Gurjant would not be allowed to leave West Bengal till the next court hearing on September 8.
Chief judicial magistrate Gopal Kumar Dalmia granted interim bail on two sureties of ` 2,500 each to Gurjant, after the CID placed the case diary and the mechanical test report of the truck which stated that the brakes of the vehicle had failed as claimed by Gurjant.
Gurjant has been directed to meet the investigating officer of the case at the state CID headquarters at Bhawani Bhavan once a week. Appearing for Gurjant, counsel Monojit Singh prayed for bail submitting that Gujrant had no intention to hurt Ms Banerjee unlike alleged in the FIR. He stated that it was a clear case of accident as the brakes of the 10-wheeler multi-axle truck had failed.
“We are extremely happy that Gurjant has been let out of the custody. We are grateful to railway minister Mamata Banerjee and Trinamul Congress MP Shubhendu Adhikari who had assured us that they would not proceed further with this case when we had met them,” said Baljit Singh, one of the members of the Sri Guru Singh Sabha who had gone from Kolkata to Tamluk to support Gurjant.
Gurjant’s brother Bir Singh and uncle Kaur Singh, however, appeared far from happy as Gurjant was not allowed to leave West Bengal. They however, remained tight-lipped over the issue.