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Tag: Suvendu Adhikari

  • HC says police cannot take coercive action in criminal cases relating to Suvendu Adhikari

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: In a reprieve to Leader of Opposition in West Bengal Suvendu Adhikari, the Calcutta High Court on Monday said police cannot take any coercive action in criminal cases relating to him in the state, including in the investigation by the CID into the unnatural death of his bodyguard.

    The CID had asked Adhikari to appear before it on Monday in connection with its investigation in a murder case lodged by the widow of the security guard in 2021, but the BJP MLA remained absent, citing pending petitions before the high court challenging FIRs against him in several cases, and political engagements.

    Justice Rajasekhar Mantha stayed proceedings against Adhikari in connection with three cases pertaining to the death of the bodyguard, an alleged political clash in Nandigram and a case of snatching lodged in Contai, Nandigram and Panskura police stations, respectively, in Purba Medinipur district.

    Allowing investigation in an alleged job scam case registered with Maniktala police station in Kolkata and a case of allegedly threatening the police at Tamluk, the court directed that no coercive action can be taken against him in connection with these.

    Adhikari is not a named accused in the cases filed in Contai and Maniktala police stations.

    Observing that the “right to life and personal liberty under Article 21 is cardinal, above all and completely non-negotiable,” the bench said “in the instant case there is prima facie evidence before this court of abuse and or misuse of state and police machinery in registering cases for investigation based on half-truths, fiction, concoctions and nonevents.”

    Directing the West Bengal government to furnish information regarding any further FIR registered against Adhikari, the bench directed that the state will have to obtain permission from the court before arresting him or taking any coercive action against him in all such cases.

    The high court asked the BJP leader to cooperate with the investigating officers in connection with the two cases in which probe will continue, while making it clear the investigators will, as far as possible, accommodate him, if he is required to give any statement, from a place and time convenient to him, considering his public responsibilities.

    The order was passed on Adhikari’s petition seeking the court’s intervention in criminal proceedings filed against him by the state police or ordering transfer of investigation of the cases to the CBI.

    He claimed that these cases are politically motivated since he is a BJP MLA and the Leader of Opposition in the state assembly.

    Adhikari complained of abuse of state and police machinery by the ruling dispensation in registering FIRs against him.

    He also said these cases were lodged against him after he left the ruling Trinamool Congress and joined the BJP.

    The former West Bengal transport minister’s counsel alleged before the court that victimisation and harassment by the state had begun immediately after the petitioner switched over to the saffron party in December 2020, and intensified after the assembly elections in May this year.

    Appearing for the state, Advocate General Kishore Dutta submitted that Adhikari is not a named accused in the cases of death of his bodyguard in 2018 and the alleged job racket, and as such cannot seek relief before the court.

    Opposing Adhikari’s prayer for handing over the cases to the CBI from the state police, Dutta argued that transfer of investigation is sought primarily by the victim of a crime, and the basis of that is inadequate investigation into the crime perpetrated upon the victim.

    Disagreeing with the contention of the advocate general, Justice Mantha said the high court is of the view that a prayer for transfer of investigation cannot be restricted, to be sought only by a victim of crime.

    “An accused can equally be prejudiced by a biased investigation or malicious prosecution and can, therefore, seek transfer of investigation,” he said.

    The court further observed that Contai police station did not enquire as to what caused the delay of three years in registering a complaint of murder by the widow of the security guard, which was originally treated as suicide.

  • Calcutta HC gives interim relief to Suvendu Adhikari regarding CID summons

    By ANI

    KOLKATA: Calcutta High Court on Monday has given interim relief to Leader of Opposition in West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari in the context of Crime Investigation Department (CID) summons.

    Justice Raj Sekhar Mantha of Calcutta High Court has given a stay order of proceedings in respect of cases registered at Contai Police station and the Nandigram Police Station on March 18, 2021.

    “In cases registered at Manicktalla and Tamluk police stations, the investigation may go on. No coercive action must be taken. State shall provide any information on the petitioner. The state shall also obtain leave of the court before arrest or coercive action on any case for the time being. In cases where he is not named in FIR shall be allowed to continue and he shall cooperate with investigating authorities,” the Court said.

    The court directed that investigating authorities shall accommodate Adhikari if he is required to depose or give a statement, from a place convenient to him. A detailed reason shall be given.

    “Since he is the Leader Of Opposition, please accommodate him. A detailed reason shall follow later,” the Court said.

    Considering the facts of the case, the FIR in which Adhikari has been named is put on stayed.

    Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Suvendu Adhikari was summoned by West Bengal CID regarding the unnatural death of his guard Subhabrata Chakraborty.

    Earlier in July, a four-member CID team visited Purba Medinipur to probe Chakraborty’s death. The case is related to Chakraborty, who had died under suspicious circumstances three years ago.

    CID had taken the case from Kanthi Police Station in Purba Medinipur on July 14. The case was filed by Chakraborty’s wife Suparna Kanjilal Chakraborty. 

  • CID summons BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari over death of bodyguard

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: The West Bengal CID has summoned opposition leader in the state assembly Suvendu Adhikari in connection with the probe into the death of his bodyguard, a senior official said on Sunday.

    The Nandigram BJP MLA has been asked to appear before the investigating officers at the CID headquarters in Bhawani Bhawan here on Monday, he said.

    The CID had formed a team to investigate the death of Adhikari’s bodyguard Subhabrata Chakraborty, who had allegedly shot himself using his service revolver.

    Chakraborty’s wife had filed a complaint at Contai Police Station demanding a probe into her husband’s death.

    The CID has so far questioned over 15 people, including 11 policemen, as part of the investigation.

    Earlier, its team members had also visited the Adhikari residence ‘Shanti Kunj’ in Purba Medinipur.

    Chakraborty, a State Armed Police personnel, was part of Adhikari’s security team from the time he was a TMC MP, and continued to be in the squad after he became a minister in 2015.

  • Trinamool advertised ‘Sabuj Sathi’ scheme in Bengal civil service exam: BJP

    The ruling party denied the charge and said that the question was meant to test the knowledge of the candidates about a universally acclaimed project.

  • BJP to move HC on appointment of Mukul Roy as PAC chairman

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: BJP on Tuesday said it will move Kolkata High Court next week for speedy disposal and time bound hearing by the speaker of BJP’s objection to the appointment of its former national vice-president Mukul Roy as chairman of Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

    Leader of Opposition and BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari told reporters that Roy, who had turned up at the Trinamool Congress office days after being elected as BJP MLA from Krishnanagar North, has now sought one month’s time from Speaker Biman Banerjee to reply to the charges of the saffron party that he has been illegally appointed as PAC chairman and should be disqualified under the anti-defection law.

    Roy, who had been asked by the speaker to reply to BJP’s charges against him, Tuesday sent a letter to the speaker’s office requesting he be granted a month’s time to do so citing poor health.

    He was granted the time, an assembly secretariat official said.

    “Roy’s letter is faulty. He merely said he is unwell and needed time till the middle of September to give his side of story. But that is not enough. The speaker’s office agreed to the request. We cannot wait for this to drag on indefinitely in this way.”

    “We will move the high court next week urging the court’s direction in this matter. We are consulting lawyers,” Adhikari said.

    Referring to Roy’s comment to the media in the assembly premises that he was an MLA of BJP but was ready to work for TMC to increase the party’s base in Tripura, Adhikari said “I had commented on it on that day itself.”

    “TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee is the only person to clarify which party Mukul Roy belongs to. She and her nephew Abhisek Banerjee had embraced him with much fanfare at the Trinamool Congress office only sometime back,” Adhikari said.

    Commenting on it, TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh said “Suvendu should first explain if anti-defection law shouldn’t be used against his father Sisir Adhikari who is yet to step down as MP. He was elected on TMC ticket and pledged loyality to Amit Shah before assembly elections.”

    After Roy was appointed PAC chairman in the first week of July, BJP MLAs had staged a walk out from the assembly and then submitted a memorandum to the speaker demanding his removal from the post.

    The saffron party lawmakers cited documents to support their demand, video clips of Roy’s press meet at the TMC office and a screenshot of his tweet after returning to TMC.

    Roy, who had been with TMC since its inception, had left the party following differences in 2018 and joined BJP.

    He was nominated as BJP candidate in West Bengal assembly polls and won.

    But he returned to Trinamool Congress which was called ‘Ghar wapsi’ by the party.

  • Calcutta HC adjourns Mamata’s plea against Nandigram polls results to November 15

    By Express News Service

    KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court on Thursday accepted the plea by Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari seeking adjournment of the hearing of CM Mamata Banerjee’s petition challenging the election result of Nandigram Assembly constituency where she lost to her former lieutenant-turned-BJP leader. 

    Adhikari moved the adjournment petition on the ground that a transfer plea has been filed by him before the Supreme Court.

    The court adjourned the matter to November 15.

    Lawyer Jaydip Kar, who appeared on behalf of Adhikari, said in his submission that a compliance report regarding the payment of cost imposed by the court had not been filed by the petitioner (Mamata). 

    Earlier, justice Kaushik Chanda had imposed costs to the tune of Rs 5 lakh on Mamata after recusing himself from adjudicating upon the election petition. Mamata’s lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi had raised objections regarding the political inclination of Chanda.

    The court directed Mamata to file the compliance report before the next date of hearing.

  • Lakhs deprived of COVID vaccines in Bengal due to TMC’s partisan policies: Suvendu Adhikari

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari on Thursday slammed the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal for depriving lakhs of the opportunity to get vaccinated against COVID-19, due to the state government’s partisan policies.

    Claiming that at least nine lakh vials sent by the Centre were wasted, Adhikari said Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had assured that the state will vaccinate everyone free of cost from May and even procure the jabs if needed.

    “But, in a 360-degree turn, she has changed her stance and is now putting the entire blame on the central government for the tardy pace of inoculation in her state,” he told health volunteers of the BJP at a meeting.

    “The TMC government has procured only a few lakh vials so far and other states have done far better on this front. The ruling party wants to engage in politics over human lives, the lives of 10 crore people of West Bengal,” Adhikari alleged.

    He said the vaccine crisis in the state has been compounded by the system of handing over tokens to people “close to the TMC” while waiting for their turn in queues.

    “What will happen to the lakhs of BJP supporters? Don’t they have the right to be saved from COVID-19? Don’t their parents have the right to lead a healthy life?” said Adhikari, who had switched over to the saffron camp from the TMC prior to the assembly elections.

    He also asked the party’s health volunteers to get the jabs at vaccination facilities run by the Centre.

    Commenting on the flood-like situation in West Bengal following heavy rainfall, Adhikari said the chief minister is not speaking the truth with regard to allegations of Damodar Valley Corporation discharging excess water.

    “The DVC has the state’s representatives, who provide information to government officials about discharge of water.

    This dispensation did not have any contingency plan to deal with floods that have been recurring all these years,” the BJP leader told reporters later.

    Responding to Adhikari’s remarks, TMC Rajya Sabha MP Sukhendu Sekhar Roy said BJP leaders like him are making baseless and unverifiable allegations “out of desperation” after the party’s loss in the assembly polls.

    “What our CM has stated (on the issues of vaccination and flood) is based on official facts and figures,” he asserted.

  • Calcutta HC orders immediate release of BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari’s aide from custody

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court on Monday ordered immediate release from custody of Rakhal Bera, stated to be a close associate of Leader of Opposition in West Bengal assembly Suvendu Adhikari of the BJP, while directing the police not to arrest him in any other case without the high court’s permission.

    Justice Rajasekhar Mantha observed that there appears to be a pattern being followed by the police in coordination with one another in attempting to keep the petitioner in custody by hook or by crook on one pretext or the other and by registering one FIR after the other.

    “This Court directs that the petitioner shall be forthwith released from custody,” Justice Mantha ordered.

    He directed that “all police stations in the State may register any FIR against the petitioner but he shall not be arrested without the express leave of this Court.”

    Directing Bera to co-operate in the investigation in all cases pending against him, the court ordered the state to submit a list of all cases pending against the petitioner anywhere in the state.

    Bera’s lawyers said that five cases were lodged against him on various charges.

    The court directed that the matter can be mentioned six weeks henceforth for further hearing following filing of affidavit-in-opposition to Bera’s averments by the state and his reply to it, if any.

    Lawyers representing Bera submitted before the court that he was enlarged on bail in connection with a case in Maniktala police station in Kolkata by the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Sealdah, on July 23.

    Before being released on bail in that case, another case was registered by Contai police station in Purba Medinipur district against the petitioner, on a similar allegation of promise of job in lieu of money and was arrested immediately thereafter, his lawyers stated.

    They claimed that the petitioner is being punished by the ruling dispensation for changing political affiliation and for being close to the present Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly by slapping false cases against him and that there are five cases registered against him.

    The state’s lawyers submitted that the cases are being filed by private persons and that the state was only doing its duty as per law.

    They claimed that there is no correlation between FIRs registered against the petitioner and submitted that the Contai police have recovered substantial evidence against him.

  • Suvendu Adhikari’s Hindu rhetoric on Bengal violence deaths sparks divide in BJP

    Express News Service
    KOLKATA:  West Bengal BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari’s comment that people killed in the post-election violence in West Bengal were those who believed in Hinduism, blew the conch shells and worshiped Tulsi sapling and Goddess Durga, triggered a division within the saffron camp. 

    Many BJP leaders said the party’s Hindutva rhetoric has failed as is shown by the Assembly election results.

    They say it not only consolidated Muslim votes in favour of the ruling party but also the votes of a section of Hindus who are against politics on the lines of religion.

    “We also observed a virtual meet over the death of our 125 party workers since 2019. The post-poll violence was also on the agenda in the meeting. Many leaders raised the issue. The Leader of Opposition played the religious card identifying the victims of post-poll violence as Hindus. We do not support this because we already have taken a lesson from the recent Assembly elections in which our party went all out on the lone of Hindutva rhetoric,” said a BJP leader.

    While explaining the advantage that the ruling TMC bagged because of the saffron camp’s attempt to polarise electorates on the line of religion, the leader said, “As a result, the Congress and RSP failed to retain its traditional vote bank in Murshidabad, Malda and North Dinajpur districts, which are known as minority-dominated pockets. The TMC had a sweeping victory in these areas.”

    The ruling party’s vote-share went up to 48 per cent, which is 5 per cent increase compared to its performance in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

    The party “should abandon playing religious card for the time being,’’ said another BJP leader.

  • Suvendu Adhikari files petition before Calcutta HC seeking transfer of criminal cases to CBI

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Alleging that he is subjected to “political vendetta”, Leader of Opposition in West Bengal Assembly and BJP MLA Suvendu Adhikari has filed a petition before the Calcutta High Court seeking transfer of all criminal cases registered against him by the state police to the CBI.

    Adhikari also prayed for an order of quashing of FIRs registered against him by the state police.

    The BJP MLA filed the writ petition on Thursday seeking transfer of the criminal cases against him to the CBI for an “impartial investigation”.

    Alleging that he is being subjected to “political vendetta” since he is an opposition party leader and the cases were registered against him with “false claims”, Adhikari also sought an order of the high court directing quashing of the FIRs against him.

    The state police and its Criminal Investigation Department (CID) are probing a number of cases that relate to Adhikari.

    Amid the nationwide row over alleged snooping activities with Pegasus spyware, the BJP leader stoked a controversy when he said that he got access to call details of Purba Medinipur district SP Amarnath K, prompting the police on Tuesday to file suo motu cases against him.

    Adhikari, during a party meeting in the district’s Tamluk area on Monday, had also publicly advised the local police chief to “refrain from doing anything that might lead to his transfer to Kashmir”.

    The Nandigram MLA narrowly defeated Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in assembly elections held earlier this year.

    The district police is also probing a case of alleged pilferage of relief material in Purba Medinipur.

    The state CID is investigating an unnatural death of a police constable, who was part of Adhikari’s security team three years ago when he was a minister in the previous TMC government.

    A case of murder was instituted recently on the basis of a complaint of the constable’s widow and the probe was handed over to the CID by the state.