The CBI on Thursday told Calcutta High Court that the presence of chief minister Mamata Banerjee in the office of the central agency and agitation by Trinamul Congress supporters outside following the arrests of four leaders in the Narada case on May 17 and arrival of five of her cabinet colleagues at the special court might have influenced the trial judge to grant interim bail to the quartet.

Justice I.P. Mukerji, Justice Harish Tandon and Justice Soumen Sen — three of five judges of a larger high court bench — repeatedly asked solicitor general Tushar Mehta, who represented the CBI, to place some proof that the trial court had been influenced by the actions of the Trinamul leaders on May 17. But he couldn’t.

The high court was hearing bail petitions moved by the four arrested leaders — ministers Subrata Mukherjee and Firhad Hakim, Trinamul MLA Madan Mitra and former Calcutta mayor Sovan Chatterjee.

The virtual hearing will resume at 12 noon on Friday.

At the start of the hearing on Thursday, state advocate general Kishore Datta informed the court about the proceedings that had taken place at the Supreme Court on Tuesday.

The CBI had moved the Supreme Court challenging the high court’s order to put the quartet under house arrest till the larger bench issued the verdict on the case.

“The apex court judges had held that agitation and act by the chief minister and her cabinet colleagues on the day of the arrests of the leaders and the bail granted by the CBI court later during the day were separate issues. ‘Why would the accused persons be deprived of their legitimate rights’, the Supreme Court judges had asked the investigating agency,” Datta told the court.

The advocate general said the CBI had been forced to withdraw its special leave petition and the Supreme Court had sent the matter back to the larger high court bench for disposal.

In his submission, Mehta claimed that what had happened inside and outside the CBI office in Calcutta on May 17 was an “unprecedented event” and if the court did not take a stern measure against the offenders, similar incidents would recur.

Justice Mukerji, Justice Tandon and Justice Sen repeatedly asked how the high court had on May 17 stayed the interim bail for the four leaders without hearing them.

Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal and Justice Arjit Banerjee are also part of the five-member larger bench constituted to hear the appeals.