Calcutta high court

R.G. Kar Case: HC Asks CBI to File Report on ‘Nasty Comments’ About Victim on Social Media

The court’s directive came in response to a plea seeking CBI action against objectionable comments under the victim’s picture on social media, copies of which were included in the plea.

New Delhi: The Calcutta high court on Thursday (September 5) asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to submit a report on objectionable comments on social media pertaining to the victim in the R.G. Kar rape and murder case.

The court’s directive came in response to a plea seeking CBI action against objectionable comments on social media posts carrying the victim’s picture, copies of which were included in the plea, LiveLaw reported.

“CBI has taken over the investigation. You [CBI] see if something can be done. There are some very nasty comments written under the picture of the victim. We will ask for ASG to be served copies [of the plea]. CBI can examine it. We will list the matter on September 18,” a division bench of chief justice T.S. Sivagnanam and justice Hiranmay Bhattacharya said.

The petitioner said these comments were made through anonymous handles who could not even be traced or proven to be real individuals. The petitioner also sought the Kolkata Police Cyber Cell’s action against these posts and in tracing their origins.

However, the court said that since the CBI had taken over the investigation they would be the competent authority to deal with the petitioner’s grievances.

Additional Solicitor General Asok Kumar Chakrabarti told the court that the CBI did not have a separate cyber cell and requested that the state police also be directed to submit a report.

The court, however, maintained that the report would have to be filed by the CBI and that they could solicit cooperation from the state police’s cyber cell while compiling it.

The CBI took over the R.G. Kar case in the second week of August on an order of the Calcutta high court.

CBI Arrests Former R.G. Kar Medical College Principal Sandip Ghosh Over Financial Misconduct

Akhtar Ali, the hospital’s former deputy superintendent, had lodged several complaints about financial irregularities at the college during Ghosh’s tenure as principal.

New Delhi: Former principal of R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital Sandip Ghosh was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday (September 2) over allegations of financial misconduct.

Ghosh was being questioned at the the agency’s Salt Lake office in connection with the brutal rape and murder of a young trainee doctor on the hospital premises on August 9. He was later taken to the CBI’s Nizam Palace office in Kolkata which houses the agency’s anti-corruption wing and was shown as arrested, news agency PTI reported.

Dr Akhtar Ali, the hospital’s former deputy superintendent, had lodged several complaints about financial irregularities at the college during Ghosh’s tenure as principal.

Accusing Ghosh of grave corruption, including illegal body trafficking and biomedical waste disposal, Ali had written to various government bodies like the health department, anti-corruption bureau as well as the State Vigilance Commission.

Ali’s allegations are now being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate and the CBI.

SC dismisses West Bengal govt’s plea against student leader leader’s bail

The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed West Bengal’s appeal against the bail granted to student leader Sayan Lahiri, who was accused of leading protests over the R.G. Kar Hospital rape-murder case. The protests, which turned violent, resulted in injuries to both protesters and police personnel, Live Law reported.

The bench comprising Justices J.B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra heard West Bengal’s challenge against the Calcutta high court order directing the release of Lahiri, the alleged leader of the ‘Paschim Banga Chhatra Samaj’, an organisation that led the protests.

The State of West Bengal submitted that the rally was organised by three individuals, including Lahiri. The court was informed that Lahiri faces 11 FIRs for unlawful assembly, rioting, and voluntarily causing hurt.

The counsel stated that 41 police officials were injured across different locations during the protests, according to the Live Law.

Justice Pardiwala questioned the grounds for charging Lahiri and noted that the case revolves around whether bail should be granted, as requested by Lahiri’s mother in her writ petition under Article 226.

Also read: ‘TMC-Aided Bullying’: Not Just R.G. Kar, Bengal Doctors Allege Deep Rot Pervades Medical Education Across State

“It is a case of bail, no doubt about it, prima facie. The only point for consideration is, in a writ petition filed by the mother whether this relief could be granted or not, thats the short point,” Justice Pardiwala was quoted as saying by Live Law.

Senior Advocate Sidharth Luthra, representing Lahiri’s mother, mentioned that Lahiri had switched political affiliations after initially being part of the ruling party. The organisers had notified the state authorities about the protests on August 26 and warned of potential miscreants who might disrupt the peaceful demonstrations, the report mentioned.

Justice Pardiwala remarked that the ideal approach for the state before the high court should have been to raise objections as to why no separate petitions were filed quashing each of the FIRs. The counsel for the state submitted that the rally was ‘orchestrated’ by a ‘mastermind’ who is named by other persons arrested.

The Supreme Court disinclined to entertain the matter further, the bench said: “It’s alright, dismissed, next matter,” as per the report.

Earlier, the high court had observed that the police should have adopted a more sensitive approach to manage the situation, rather than focusing on suppressing the protesters and preventing their peaceful demonstrations. The court also noted that Lahiri’s involvement in the protests did not necessarily mean he was the leader and that the protests were a spontaneous response to the incident, Live Law reported.

The case relates to the gruesome rape and murder of a second-year PG medical student at the R.G. Kar Hospital, leading to widespread protests across the country. The high court had transferred the probe into the doctor’s rape and murder to the CBI, and the Supreme Court had passed directions to ensure the victim’s identity and photos were not circulated on social media.

SC Sets Aside Calcutta HC’s Order Asking Adolescent Girls to ‘Control Sexual Urges’

The Calcutta high order, on October 18, 2023, while acquitting a youth accused of sexual assault of a minor girl, said adolescent girls should ‘control their sexual urges’ instead of ‘giving in to two minutes of pleasure’.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has set aside Calcutta high court’s controversial order advising adolescent girls to “control their sexual urges”.

A two-judge bench of Justice A.S. Oka and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan of the top court, while setting aside the high court order, on Monday, August 19, also restored the conviction of the accused under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO Act) and the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The high court’s controversial remark was made on October 18, 2023, while acquitting the man who was convicted by a trial court in the case of kidnapping and sexual assault of a young girl. He was convicted under IPC Section 363 (punishment for kidnapping) and Section 366 (Kidnapping, abducting or inducing a woman to compel her marriage, etc) as well as Section 6 (sexual assault) of the POCSO Act.

The high court had said adolescent girls should “control their sexual urges” instead of “giving in to two minutes of pleasure”, according to the Bar and Bench.

The West Bengal government filed an appeal against the high court’s verdict and comments. Meanwhile, the top court had also initiated a suo motu writ petition under Article 32 of the constitution “due to sweeping observations/findings recorded by the Division Bench of Calcutta High Court” in the ruling, the Indian Express reported.

Delivering its verdict on the suo muto petition, the top court on Monday said directions had been issued to the states to implement the provisions of Section 19 (6) of the POCSO Act along with Sections 30 to 43 of the Juvenile Justice Act. Justice Oka added that directions had also been issued on how judgements are to be written.

Mamata Banerjee’s Lawyer Says Calcutta HC’s Restraining Order Against CM Will be Challenged

On June 28, Governor Bose had filed a defamation case against West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee after the latter claimed that women complained to her that they were afraid to visit Raj Bhavan.

New Delhi: Following the Calcutta High Court’s decision to restrain West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee from making any ‘defamatory’ statements against Governor C.V. Ananda Bose, the lawyer representing the Chief Minister has said that Banerjee has a right to freedom of speech and that the High Court order will be challenged.

Sanjay Basu, the lawyer representing Banerjee said in a statement that the Chief Minister was alluding to the apprehensions of numerous women who had approached her, reported The Hindu.

The Calcutta High Court had on Tuesday (July 16), restrained CM Banerjee and three others from “making any defamatory or incorrect statement against the plaintiff (Bose) by way of publication and on social platforms till August 14, 2024,” the Press Trust of India had earlier reported.

Basu said that the High Court’s order will be challenged.

“The Hon’ble Court has not arrived at any finding or conclusion that the statements challenged in the suit were defamatory or incorrect. The Hon’ble Chief Minister has merely alluded to the apprehensions of numerous women who have approached her. She has a right to freedom of speech that is guaranteed under Article 19 of the Constitution of India,” Basu said in a statement, reported The Hindu.

“As a public representative and as a woman, she cannot shut her eyes and be oblivious to the felt sufferings and grievances of women. Therefore, as the statements made by the Chief Minister have not been found to be defamatory, we believe that the order of general restraint of speech is unfounded,” Basu added, reported The Hindu.

Calcutta HC Tells CBI to Add GJM’s Bimal Gurung as Accused in Madan Tamang Murder Case

Gurung called this development a “political conspiracy” and said that he will appeal against the order.

New Delhi: The Calcutta high court on Thursday (June 13) directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to add Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) leader Bimal Gurung’s name as an accused in the Madan Tamang murder case. The high court set aside an earlier sessions court verdict that had discharged Gurung.

Gurung, according to The Indian Express, called this development a “political conspiracy” and said that he will appeal against the order. The Tamang family expressed some relief at the order. “In August 2017, Bharati Tamang, wife of Late Madan Tamang, had filed a revision petition in the Calcutta high court against the order whereby Bimal Gurung had been discharged. Our prayer was to set aside the discharge order in favor of Bimal Gurung. In December 2023, the matter came up for hearing. Now, Bimal Gurung has to appear before the trial court,” Amar Lama, Taman’s brother, told Millennium Post.

“Madan Tamang, a political leader of Darjeeling and the then president of the All India Gorkha League (referred to as AIGL hereinafter), a political party in Darjeeling was murdered in broad daylight at Darjeeling Mall on 21.05.2010,” the high court’s order noted.

“The learned Chief Judge, City Sessions Court, has committed an error by separating/segregating Bimal Gurung from other accused persons. The value evidence is similar to that of all the other accused persons and Bimal Gurung; merely not collecting CDR of Bimal Gurung cannot itself exonerate him from the direct allegation of criminal conspiracy. It is quite impermissible to discharge an accused from a criminal case where his name is directly stated by the available witnesses regarding his involvement in the alleged offence. Bimal Gurung was cited as a leader of other accused persons,” a single judge bench of Justice Subhendu Samanta continued.

“Thus, complicity against Bimal Gurung has been sufficiently established at this stage. Some witnesses disclosed the conduct and public remarks of Bimal Gurung regarding threatening the victim, the remaining witnesses disclosed some facts …about a meeting of Bimal Gurung with the other accused persons for commission of alleged offences. Thus, at this juncture how far the charge of conspiracy against Bimal Gurung would be proved in trial, cannot be ascertained at the stage u/s 227 Cr.P.C. but it can very well observed that there are grave suspicions against Bimal Gurung in this case,” he added.

“Considering the entire material, I am of the view that the instant criminal revisions got merit and they are required to be allowed. The alleged portion of the impugned order passed by the learned Chief Judge, City Sessions Court, through which he discharged Bimal Gurung from this case is hereby set aside. The charge in this case is required to be framed against Bimal Gurung with other accused persons. The learned trial judge is to proceed with this case according to the law and as per direction of the honourable Apex Court,” he concluded.

In May 2010, after Tamang was murdered, a murder case was registered at Darjeeling police station and the CID started an investigation. One of the main accused, Nikol Tamang, was arrested but then escaped from police custody. Later the CBI took charge of the investigation and filed a chargesheet naming 48 hill leaders, including Gurung. In August 2017, the sessions court ordered that Gurung’s name should be dropped from the chargesheet.

‘MCC Muzzling Opposition; Can’t Act Just Against Smaller Politicians’: 2 English Editorials Slam EC

‘The EC has been found grossly wanting…and has given the impression that it did not want to take action in cases that involve highly-placed persons.’

New Delhi: Two editorials on English newspapers today have taken on the Election Commission which in its partisan conduct this election has garnered significant criticism.

The Hindu has noted that its letters on May 22 to Bharatiya Janata Party – and Congress – against the use of divisive issues in speeches is late but does little to convince people of the poll body’s impartiality.

The Deccan Herald, on the other hand, has taken a more direct approach, noting that the failures of the poll body are apparent for all to see now.

‘Too important to be left to its own devices’

The Hindu’s editorial notes that the EC’s letter to Congress and BJP is “a case of better late than never” while at once observing how the poll body has “disappointed the Indian electorate by its inability to be effective, impartial and prompt in its role as the watchdog of elections.”

The editorial highlights how the appointment of the ECI’s members – a decision by the executive – is responsible for it.

Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty

The editorial says that the EC’s actions against YSRCP chief, Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, BRS chief K. Chandrashekar Rao, Telangana minister Konda Surekha, BJP leaders Shobha Karandlaje and Dilip Ghosh, and Congress leaders Supriya Shrinate and Randeep Surjewala “might give an appearance of impartiality but that is not enough.”

Complaints against UP chief minister Adityanath and Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma are pending, it adds.

The editorial unsparingly notes how the EC is “assuming a false parity between legitimate debates on policies that impact various social groups differently and an incitement of xenophobia for social polarisation.”

It warns against the use of the MCC to silence opposition.

The MCC cannot be a ruse to muffle political debates and disagreements which are, and should be, at the heart of campaigning. Misuse of power and creation of disharmony fall in a different basket. The integrity and the credibility of the ECI is central to the legitimacy of elections. Reinforcing its independence should be a priority for all stakeholders in Indian democracy, particularly political parties and the judiciary. The ECI is too important to be left to itself.

‘Acted only in the case of some lesser persons, and late’

The Deccan Herald noted that the courts are now forced to do the work expected of the EC and “sit in judgement on the compliance of parties and candidates with the model code of conduct to be observed during elections.”

The paper said that the Calcutta high court’s orders restraining the BJP from publishing “slanderous and derogatory” advertisements and criticism of the EC for not addressing the complaints promptly was example of this.

The editorial said:

It is ironic that the EC objected to the court looking into the complaint after it had failed to do so itself…The court rightly asked whether the EC would take action only after the election was over.

The Kolkata case is not an isolated one, the editorial notes, adding that there have been many other cases of failure on the part of the EC to act in time on complaints about violations of the model code.

When it has acted, it has acted in the case of smaller politicians and the action was late and not immediate, it says.

The EC has been found grossly wanting in this respect and has given the impression that it did not want to take action in cases that involve highly-placed persons.

The ongoing campaign has seen resort to hate speech and communal statements on a much larger scale than in all past elections, the editorial points out, adding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has particularly “often resorted to hate speech against Muslims, misrepresentation, and statements and allegations without basis.” It adds:

He finds a communal angle to beat the Opposition with almost every day and even tried to create a North-South issue by saying that parties from the South have used abusive language for the people of UP.

The Election Commission is undermining its own authority and losing the trust of the people when it fails to take timely action on complaints, the editorial finds.

The general guidelines it gave to parties on Wednesday do not change this perception, it adds, scathingly.

‘For Political Gains’: Calcutta HC Cancels OBC Certificates to 5 Lakh, CM Mamata Rejects Order

The court said that the state commission’s selection of 77 classes of Muslims as backward is ‘an affront to the Muslim community as a whole.’

New Delhi: The Calcutta high court has struck down the Other Backward Class status granted to several communities in Bengal since 2010. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee has said that she “rejects the order”.

PTI has reported that the number of people affected could be around five lakh.

In its order on May 22, the court said that reservations for these classes in services and posts in the state are illegal. However, the court has clarified that those who had got jobs as a result of OBC certificates issued to them after 2010 would not be affected by the order.

A division bench of Justices Tapabrata Chakraborty and Rajasekhar Mantha delivered the verdict in a plea challenging the process of granting OBC certificates in the state under the West Bengal Backward Classes (Other than Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes) (Reservation of Vacancies in Services and Posts) Act, 2012, according to LiveLaw.

The bench has struck down portions of the Act, including Section 16 (“since it empowers the State executive to amend any schedule of the Act of 2012 including Schedule I”) along with the second part of Section 2(h), and Section 5(a) which distributed reservation percentages of 10% and 7% to the sub-classified categories.

Consequently, the 37 classes included in the exercise of Section 16 by the state executive were struck out from Schedule I of the Act and the sub-classified categories OBC-A and OBC-B were removed.

‘Haste, deficiencies’

The court noted that a class is declared “OBC not only because it is backward, based on scientific and identifiable data, but also on the basis of such class being inadequately represented in the services under the State.”

This inadequacy, the court observed, needs to be assessed with attention to the population as a whole and other unreserved classes as well.

“There are deficiencies galore in the said pro forma,” the court said on the state commission’s process.

While the Left front government was in power in 2010, in 2011, the Trinamool Congress government took over. Thus, almost all OBC certificates cancelled through this order came during Mamata Banerjee’s rule in the state.

The court highlighted the commission’s “undue haste” in acting to make “recommendations for the classification of the 77 classes to make the public announcement of the then Chief Minister a reality.”

‘Affront to community’

The recommendations for sub-classification of OBCs by the state were made upon bypassing the state commission, the court also said, according to LiveLaw. It added that although the commission could not recommend a community for reservation solely based on religion, 41 out of the 42 classes that were recommended for reservation in 2010 alone, belonged to the Muslim community.

The court also said, LiveLaw further reported, that the commission’s selection of 77 classes of Muslims as backward is “an affront to the Muslim community as a whole” and raises suspicion that the “community has been treated as a commodity for political ends.”

“This is clear from the chain of events that led to the classification of the 77 Classes as OBCs and their inclusion to be treated as a vote bank. Identification of the classes in the aid community as OBCs for electoral gains would leave them at the mercy of the concerned political establishment and may defeat and deny other rights,” the court said.

The Union government had the included 37 classes under the Central OBC list during 2010-2011.

Meanwhile, chief minister Mamata Banerjee has says that she will not accept the ruling and move a higher court if necessary. “The reservation system will continue,” she said. Her political opponent in the Bharatiya Janata Party and Union home minister Amit Shah has accused the Bengal government of “appeasement.”

While Retiring, Calcutta HC Judge Says He Has Always Been an RSS Member

“Today, I must unfold my true self. I owe a lot to one organisation [RSS]. I am there from my childhood till I attained my youth.”

New Delhi: At his retirement event at the Calcutta high court on Monday (May 20), Justice Chitta Ranjan Dash said that he was eager to give more time to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which he had belonged to “since childhood” and continued to be a member of through his judgeship.

“Today, I must unfold my true self. I owe a lot to one organisation. I am there from my childhood till I attained my youth. I have learned to be courageous, upright, have equal view for others, and above all, the sense of patriotism and commitment to the work wherever you work. I must admit here that I was and I am a member of the RSS,” he said, according to Bar and Bench.

“I have distanced myself from the organisation (RSS) for about 37 years due to the work I undertook. I never used the membership of my organisation for any advancement of my career, because that is against our principle. I have treated everybody at par, be it a Communist person, be it a BJP or Congress or even TMC person. I do not have any bias against anybody. I do not have any bias against any political personality. All were equal before me. I tried to dispense justice on two principles: one is empathy and second is law can be bent to do justice, but justice cannot be bent to suit the law,” he continued.

While Justice Dash claimed that he had maintained impartiality, observers of his judgments – including the Supreme Court – have not always agreed. In October last year, he was part of a bench that issued a code of conduct for adolescent girls to “control their sexual urges” so that they are not deemed a “loser” by society. The Supreme Court had come down heavily on this judgment, saying that “writing such judgments is absolutely wrong”.

Justice Dash entered the Odisha judicial service and served as an additional district and sessions judge. He was elevated as an additional judge of the Orissa high court on October 10, 2009 and was transferred to the Calcutta high court on June 20, 2022.

Justice Dash is the second judge of the Calcutta high court to announce his political leanings in the recent past. Controversially, Abhijit Gangopadhyay resigned from the court in March this year and immediately joined the BJP. He is now contesting the Lok Sabha election. Gangopadhyay had presided over key judgments that criticised the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government in the state.

In Landmark Ruling, Calcutta HC Cancels Jobs of 24,000 Recruited in 2016 SSC Drive

A bench of Justices Debangsu Basak and Mohammad Shabbar Rashidi held that their recruitment had been invalid.

Kolkata: The Calcutta high court today, April 22, cancelled the jobs of 24,000 employees who got their jobs in government-aided schools of Bengal through the 2016 West Bengal School Service Commission-led recruitment drive.

In a judgment that is certain to see statewide ripples, a bench of Justices Debangsu Basak and Mohammad Shabbar Rashidi held that their recruitment had been invalid and asked all of them to “return their salaries” within four weeks.

The Bengal SSC exam scam has rocked state politics, leading to years of protests by teachers against the ruling Mamata Banerjee government. Wrong evaluation of answer sheets, favouritism, bribery and widespread corruption allegations had surrounded the landmark case. The Central Bureau of Investigation is investigating the case at present. Several top Trinamool Congress leaders, ministers and legislators are in jail in connection with their alleged involvement in the case.

Bar and Bench has reported that the high court bench has ordered a fresh recruitment process and said that there was no clarity as to which of the 23 lakh sheets were evaluated properly.

The investigations into alleged irregularities in recruitments started after three separate petitions were filed in the Calcutta high court in August-September 2022, as The Wire had reported. More cases were unearthed during the course of the hearing as the judge – now Bharatiya Janata Party Lok Sabha poll candidate Abhijit Gangopadhyay – had insisted on various documents as more petitioners joined in with more examples.

Facing Fire, TMC Leaders Say Allegiance Only to People of Bengal, Shahjahan Arrest Soon

In response to a question by The Wire on why the state government has failed to act against Shahjahan despite allegations of land-grab and attacks on women being raised in the state assembly as far back as in 2012, TMC leaders said that an FIR had not been filed then.

New Delhi: Facing fire for inaction against local Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders in light of allegations of sexual assault and land grab in West Bengal’s Sandeshkhali, the party’s Rajya Sabha MPs said in the national capital on Tuesday (February 27) that the state government is taking action and the key accused Sheikh Shahjahan will be arrested soon.

Addressing a press conference, Rajya Sabha MP Saket Gokhale as well as Rajya Sabha MPs-elect Sagarika Ghose and Sushmita Dev said the state government has already arrested 20 people and that Shahjahan will also be arrested now that the Calcutta high court has said that there is no stay on taking action against him.

“The West Bengal police has been accused of being partisan and acting on Mamata [Banerjee]’s instructions. I want to tell the BJP that the advocate general has informed the court that 20 arrests have been made in Sandeshkhali,” said Dev.

She continued: “Those who are accusing the West Bengal police of being partisan, we want to ask them, who is Shibu Hazra? Mamata Banerjee has proved that whether it is Bengal’s mothers, sisters or elderly, if there is any injustice, she will take action and not look at any party affiliation.”

Hazra, a TMC block-level president in Sandeshkhali and a member of the North 24 Parganas zilla parishad, was named by multiple women in serious sexual harassment cases and was only arrested earlier this month after the state government faced pressure from the opposition, including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Communist Party of India (Marxist).

In response to a question by The Wire on why the state government has failed to act against Shahjahan despite allegations of land-grab and attacks on women being raised in the West Bengal assembly as far back as in 2012, the TMC leaders said that a first information report (FIR) had not been filed then.

“Police file a complaint if there is an FIR. Tomorrow, I can stand and say something in front of the chief justice of India, but the police will investigate only when an FIR is filed,” said Gokhale.

When asked by The Wire about why the issue being raised in the assembly did not warrant any action, Ghose added that now that FIRs have been registered, the police investigation has started.

“Now that FIRs have come, the police are investigating and arresting,” she said.

On Monday, The Telegraph reported citing official assembly records that CPI(M) MLA Nirapada Sardar, who represented Sandeshkhali from 2011 to 2016, had raised those issues at least thrice – twice in 2012 and once in 2013 – in the House.

Sardar, who was arrested on February 11 on charges of fomenting trouble in Sandeshkhali, was granted bail on Tuesday.

“The government is proactively engaging on women’s issues across the state. In every area, the TMC government is looking to address grievances that are brought by the women of the area and when the complaint was registered, the government did act,” said Ghose to The Wire.

Gokhale said that the state government had not acted against Shahjahan due to a February 7 order by the Calcutta high court restraining any action against him. He went on to take aim at the BJP.

“On February 7, the Calcutta high court in its order clearly restrained West Bengal police from taking any action against Sheikh Shahjahan. February 8 onwards every single day, one BJP minister, one BJP MLA, somebody from this commission or that commission started visiting Sandeshkhali every single day,” he said.

“Yesterday [February 27], the Calcutta high court issued a clarification that the West Bengal police was free to take action against Shahjahan Sheikh. This happened at 12:30 in the afternoon [and] by 1-1:30 pm, an FIR had been filed.

“The West Bengal police are very confident that they will nab him in a few days. This is not Nirav Modi or Mehul Choksi, where they take a foreign passport and leave the country. This is not a BJP government but a TMC government. He will be brought to book in a matter of days,” he said.

Shahjahan has been absconding since January 5, when Enforcement Directorate officials who were investigating an alleged ration distribution scam were attacked at his residence.

Dev said that chief minister Mamata Banerjee will be visiting Sandeshkhali soon.

“You [the BJP] did not remove Brij Bhushan [Sharan Singh], you garlanded Bilkis Bano’s rapists. I want to tell them that her [Banerjee’s] only allegiance is the people of Bengal and those who do injustice to the people of Bengal will face action,” she said.

“Let me assure you Mamata Banerjee Abishek Banerjee [Banerjee’s nephew and Lok Sabha MP] will go there, let us see when the PM will go to Manipur,” she said.