The Calcutta high court on Saturday granted interim bail to three Jharkhand MLAs who were arrested in Howrah with cash worth over Rs 50 lakh, according to media reports.
Jamtara legislator Irfan Ansari, Khijri's Rajesh Kachhap and Kolebira's Naman Bixal have already been suspended by the Congress after their arrest in July-end as reports flew that they were on going to to Guwahati to meet BJP leader and Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma in a bid to usurp the Hemant Soren-led government in Jharkhand.
Speaking to the media, Ansari said the money seized were theirs and they had been trapped for political motives. \
He added that they were Congress loyalists and would never join BJP.\
"The CM has trapped us wrongfully for political gains. The money recovered was ours. We have Congress blood in our veins, we can never join BJP. Three MLAs can anyway not bring down a government,” Ansari said as quoted by news agency ANI.
Around 10 of the 18 Congress MLAs in Jharkhand had cross-voted for NDA candidate in the July 18 presidential elections.
During the grilling, the legislators had said they were planning to buy the sarees from Calcutta's Burrabazar where rates are reasonable. They added they wished to visit Burrabazar on Monday after spending a day at Mandarmani.