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Calcutta HC slaps ₹50 lakh fine on Bengal govt for not handing over probe to CBI, ED
The Calcutta high court has also asked the CID to hand over the documents related to the alleged corruption at a women-run cooperative society in Alipurduar district to CBI and ED within 72 hours
The Calcutta high court on Friday imposed a fine of ₹50 lakh on the West Bengal government for not handing over a probe into an alleged corruption at a women-run cooperative society in Alipurduar district from the state criminal investigation department (CID) to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED), a lawyers who attended the hearing said.
The court made strong observations against the CID saying it failed to recover ₹50 crore that was allegedly defalcated although the investigation started in 2020.
The money was taken as loan by some people who never returned it, the complainants, who approached the bench in August, told the court.
The fine was imposed by justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay, who, on August 24, directed the CID to hand over all documents related to the investigations to the federal agencies.
“The judge imposed the fine when the state approached his bench with the request to review the August 24 order and let CID probe the alleged scam,” a lawyer said on condition of anonymity.
“The judge said that the state has to deposit ₹50 lakh at the office of the registrar general of the high court in two weeks. Also, the CID was told to hand over the documents to CBI and ED within 72 hours,” the lawyer said.
“Are you playing with the money of poor people? CID does not know who took the money but I know,” the judge was quoted to have said while making observations during Friday’s hearing.
Members of the cooperative society in north Bengal’s Alipurduar district filed a police complaint in 2020 alleging that around ₹50 crore had been defalcated. The society stopped functioning and the depositors did not get any refund.
Although the CID arrested five people in three years, it failed to recover the money.
No CID official commented on the court order till Friday evening.
