A division bench of the Calcutta high court was “dismayed” over the arrest of BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari’s aide Rakhal Bera in a case on Tuesday, a day after it had directed his release on bail in another case. The arrest came despite a directive to all police stations by the HC on Monday that the state would require the leave of the court before taking the accused in custody.

Bera was given bail on Monday in a job racket case. Asking Bera to cooperate with the investigating agency, Justice Rajasekhar Mantha had observed that a writ court was required to intervene “even at a suggestion of any plan or attempt to take away the liberty of a person”, with “ulterior motive” or “for doubtful reason”. Justice Mantha observed that there were “repeated attempts by persons to lodge one complaint after the other” against Bera in a “planned and systematic manner”.

On Tuesday, the news of Bera’s arrest reached the courtroom after an HC bench concluded hearing on the state’s appeal challenging the previous day’s bail order.

Bera’s son received an SMS on Tuesday that a Tamluk court had granted permission to police to arrest him and the information was subsequently submitted to the HC. The bench asked for the name of the officer who made the arrest.The court held that it would pass an order only after it got to know the name of the officer by Wednesday.

Justice Mantha on Monday had directed that all police stations in the state might register FIR but he should not be arrested “without the express leave of this court”.

(With inputs from agencies)