Calcutta High Court Division Bench Delays Decision on CBI Court Order Amid Torture Claims
Justice Amrita Sinha to Hear Former Trinamul Leader's Case Before Halting Proceedings
A division bench of the Calcutta High Court composed of Justices Soumen Sen and Uday Kumar issued an order on Wednesday requesting that Justice Amrita Sinha first hear former Trinamul youth leader Kuntal Ghosh before deciding whether or not to halt the proceedings ordered by a CBI court judge.
The CBI court judge had requested that Kolkata police look into Ghosh's claims that he was being tortured in jail by ED agents and that they were pressuring him to implicate Trinamul leader Abhishek Banerjee in the alleged irregularities in school hiring.
Following a request by Ghosh that the single-judge bench of Justice Sinha had overturned the CBI court's order without consulting his attorney, the division bench issued its ruling.
Ghosh had been outspoken in his claims that ED officers had pressured him to link Banerjee, the nephew of state minister Mamata Banerjee, to the purported hiring irregularities.
Ghosh said that ED personnel had been exerting "tremendous pressure" on him and pressuring him to identify Banerjee as the mastermind of the job fraud in two letters he sent while in custody, one to the CBI judge and the other to the Hastings police station.
The CBI court ordered the detective division of the Kolkata police to look into Ghosh's claim after receiving the letter.
However, the ED complained to Justice Sinha's bench that Kolkata police officers had been intimidating agency staff by continuously summoning them. The CBI court's order was suspended by Justice Sinha.
For his alleged participation in the employment issue, Ghosh was detained by the ED in January.
Ghosh's attorney argued before the division bench on Wednesday that Justice Sinha should have spoken with his client before granting a stay on the CBI court's order because the order was made based on a letter from his client.
After November 16, the case will be heard once again before Justice Sinha.
Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Press Time staff and has been published from a syndicated feed
