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Calcutta high court declines to recall order on Abhishek Banerjee for now
The Calcutta high court’s stand on the two cases comes days after the bench of justice Amrita Sinha told the Bengal government to stop being extra apprehensive about investigations
KOLKATA: The Calcutta high court on Friday declined to recall or pause the single judge’s order that allowed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) to question TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee in the school recruitment case. The court also dismissed a review petition filed by the West Bengal government against a single bench verdict directing CBI to probe alleged irregularities in recruitment in civic bodies across the state.
The high court’s stand on the two cases comes days after the bench of justice Amrita Sinha told the Bengal government to stop being extra apprehensive about investigations and cooperate with the agencies in bribe-for-job case.
“Abhishek Banerjee moved two applications seeking recall of the April 13 order in which justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay suggested that ED and CBI should question Banerjee. In another application, he sought to be a party to the case. The court refused to pass any interim order. It will hear the matter again on Monday,” lawyer Firdaus Shamim told reporters.
The matter was earlier being heard by justice Gangopadhyay.
Abhishek Banerjee had earlier moved the Supreme Court which took exception to justice Gangopadhyay’s interview to a television channel wherein he spoke against Banerjee.
On the top court’s orders on April 28, the Calcutta high court reassigned the cases related to the recruitment scam to justice Amrita Sinha’s bench.
“This order was expected… Investigating agencies may question anybody to unearth the truth. He should cooperate with the investigating agencies,” BJP spokesman Samik Bhattacharya told reporters.
Expelled TMC youth leader Kuntal Ghosh, who was arrested by ED in the jobs case, has alleged that he was being pressured by central investigating agencies to name Banerjee and other TMC leaders in the recruitment case.
“Abhishek’s name was dragged into the case after an accused said that investigating agencies was forcing him to frame Abhishek. Following the same logic Prime Minister Narendra Modi should be questioned because Amit Shah recently said that CBI forced him during UPA regime to frame Modi in a case. Law should be equal for all,” TMC spokesperson Jay Prakash Majumdar said.
In a related development, justice Sinha also refused to grant an interim stay on on an earlier order by justice Gangopadhyay’s bench, which ordered a CBI probe into the alleged irregularities in recruitment of workers in civic bodies.
ED, while probing the money laundering aspects of the school recruitment scam, said it stumbled upon documents related to a possible scam involving irregularities in recruitment of workers in civic bodies. Later the Calcutta high court ordered CBI to investigate these allegations. CBI registered the FIR in April.
The West Bengal government moved the Supreme Court. On the top court’s orders, the Calcutta high court reassigned the case to justice Amrita Sinha’s bench. “The bench of Justice Sinha has dismissed the state’s review petition. Hence the CBI can now go ahead with the probe,” said Shamim.
