Kolkata, 04 July (H.S.): A day after a special court granted conditional bail to Trinamool Congress councillor Shakir Ali in an NIA-linked case, his wife and former Arambagh MP Aparupa Poddar surrendered before a court on Saturday and secured interim bail in a police case registered against her.

The Serampore Sub-Divisional Court granted Poddar interim bail and directed her to appear before the MP-MLA Special Court at Mayukh Bhavan in Salt Lake on September 30.

The case against Poddar was registered by the police after she was allegedly accused of obstructing police officials during Shakir Ali's arrest on Tuesday. She had appeared at Serampore Police Station on Friday in connection with the case.

According to police sources, Poddar did not appear before the police on the scheduled date, following which non-bailable sections were added to the case, making it necessary for her to seek relief from the court.

After securing interim bail, Poddar declined to comment on the case, saying that her lawyer would respond on her behalf.

Her counsel, Joydeep Mukhopadhyay, said they would appear before the MP-MLA Special Court on September 30 as directed. Referring to the police case, he said, The police will do their job and we will do ours. The court has accepted our submissions. The police may make several allegations, but we will contest the matter through legal means.

Meanwhile, Chandannagar Police Commissioner Sunil Kumar Yadav said Poddar had been called for questioning to gather information regarding the incident and could be summoned again if required.

We had called her to obtain information about who was present on the day of the incident. If necessary, we will summon her again and issue another notice, the Police Commissioner said.

Hindusthan Samachar / Satya Prakash Singh