In a new turn to the Narada sting operation case relating to alleged corruption, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Law Minister Moloy Ghatak have been made parties in a petition by the Central Bureau of Investigation before the Calcutta High Court seeking transfer of trial outside the state.

There was no relief for two senior Bengal ministers Firhad Hakim and Subrata Mukherjee and key TMC leader Madan Mitra and ex-Kolkata Mayor Shovan Chatterjee arrested in the Narada case on Monday as the High Court adjourned the nearly two-and-half-hour hearing till Thursday afternoon.

As a result, Hakim, Mukherjee, Mitra, and Chatterjee would continue to remain in judicial custody.

There were two petitions before the High Court bench comprising acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal and Justice Arijit Banerjee yesterday -- one by CBI seeking transfer of the case outside West Bengal and the other by the lawyers of the arrested politicians who wanted the bench to recall its earlier order on staying the bail order. The hearing on the two petitions will resume on Thursday.

Besides Mamata and Ghatak, CBI also made Trinamool Congress lawmaker-lawyer Kalyan Banerjee a party in its petition before the High Court's two-member bench.

Representing CBI, Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta had on Monday evening told the division bench that an extraordinary situation had evolved, with the Chief Minister of the state sitting on a dharna outside the office of CBI at Nizam Palace in Kolkata.

CBI also claimed the Law Minister of West Bengal was present in court, where the accused were to be presented, along with a mob in a bid to pressure the courts.

The probe agency said a number of followers of the arrested political leaders laid a siege on the CBI office in the Nizam Palace area and did not allow its officers to move out to enable them to produce the accused in court. They were produced before the special CBI court through the virtual mode on Monday.

Hakim, Mukherjee, Mitra, and Chatterjee were arrested in the Narada case on Monday after Bengal Governor Jagdip Dhankar gave clearance for their prosecution in the Narada case.

Soon after the arrests, a huge crowd of Trinamool workers had gathered outside the CBI's Kolkata office indulged in stone-pelting and the Chief Minister, who had gone there, had held a dharna at the spot.

The Chief Minister, the CBI said, had remained present outside the CBI office "along with a well-engineered crowd of thousands of miscreants and after ensuring media presence".

This, the agency said in its petition, was "part of the larger and well-thought-of design to terrorize the investigating agency and preventing it from discharging its statutory functions freely and fearlessly".

In the circumstances, asking for their custody and their movement would have led to serious law and order problems, the agency said.

CBI, which sought transfer of the case out of the state, has asked that the four accused who were arrested earlier this week and are now in jail, be placed in police custody.

Justice Banerjee asked the Solicitor General what was the need for keeping the four politicians in jail in the Covid situation particularly after the charge sheet has been submitted and their interrogation completed. He also wanted to know if CBI has any instance of the four arrested not cooperating with the probe agency.

Mehta said the arrested persons are not in jail but in hospital. CBI was handed over the investigation into the case by the Calcutta High Court but the probe agency was being prevented from doing its work and attempts were being made to thwart the process of justice.

Mehta said the CBI office at Nizam Palace was gheraoed and the Chief Minister herself entered the office and offered to be arrested.

Eminent lawyer Abhishek Singhvi, representing the four arrested politicians said the case against his clients was filed without informing them and the Chief Minister and other TMC legislators were protesting against "political vendetta" and they did not create any unrest.

Mehta said CBI officers were threatened and demands were made for the unconditional release of the arrested persons. All this was done in a planned manner, he argued.

The Solicitor General the Law Minister was in the court along with several people and this has created pressure on the judges. Hurdles were created when CBI lawyers went to present case diary to the court and strategy was adopted to create pressure on investigators, he added.

Justice Bindal asked Singhvi about the demonstrations outside the CBI office and the Chief Minister's sit-in protest at the CBI office, to which the lawyer said "it was an entirely democratic protest. None was stopped from doing his work and the judiciary was not hampered.