Trinamool Congress’ national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee challenges Calcutta HC’s order

KOLKATA: Trinamool Congress’ national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Thursday approached a division bench of the Calcutta High Court, hours after the single-judge bench of Justice Amrita Sinha allowed central agencies to question him in connection with the teachers’ recruitment case.

Expelled Trinamool Congress leader and another accused in the case, Kuntal Ghosh, had also approached the same division bench challenging Justice Sinha’s order.

Besides allowing central agencies to question Banerjee and Ghosh in the matter, Justice Sinha also imposed a penalty of Rs 25 lakh on each of them.

The division bench of Calcutta High Court’s Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnaanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharya has admitted the plea, but as of now it has not agreed for fast-track hearing of the matter. The case is likely to come up for hearing on Friday.

Earlier also, Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay had empowered the central agencies to question Abhishek Banerjee. The latter then approached the Supreme Court in the matter. Following the Supreme Court order, two related cases in the matter were transferred to the bench of Justice Amrita Sinha.

Though the hearing in the matter concluded on May 15, Justice Sinha had reserved the verdict on that day.

Abhishek Banerjee’s name surfaced in the matter after Kuntal Ghosh wrote letters to a local police station as well as to the judge of a lower court accusing central agencies of putting pressure on him to name Banerjee in the alleged scam.

During the course of hearing, last week, Justice Sinha had raised questions about the reasons for the petitioner’s reluctance in facing the investigation in the matter. Observing that the petitioner should cooperate in the investigation process, Justice Sinha also observed that no one is above investigation.

“Let the investigating agency decide who is involved and who is not. The legal system is above all. Everyone should cooperate in the process of investigation,” Justice Sinha had observed earlier. (IANS)

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