Suvendu Adhikari gets Calcutta HC cover against ‘coercive steps’ – Times of India

KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court on Monday stayed CID proceedings against BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari over the unnatural death of his bodyguard in 2018 and directed the state administration against taking any coercive step against him without taking the court’s permission.
The court also stayed proceedings against Adhikari relating to cases in Nandigram and Panskura.
It, however, gave a green light to two other investigations: a jobs scam in Maniktala and a case in Tamluk, where he was accused of intimidating the East Midnapore SP. It also directed Adhikari to cooperate with the investigations.
“The state shall furnish information as regards any further FIR against the petitioner and obtain leave of court before arresting the petitioner or taking coercive steps,” Justice Rajasekhar Mantha ordered, turning down a plea from advocate-general Kishore Dutta, seeking a stay on the order.
Justice Mantha pointed to efforts to “implicate and victimize” petitioners in criminal cases. “A scheme and or a conspiracy… appear to have been devised to entrap the petitioner and his associates to ensure their incarceration and custody inter alia to embarrass them,” the court held.
Adhikari had moved the HC seeking its intervention in all six FIRs against him before the CID sent summons to him on September 4. The BJP leader also sought for transfer of all six FIRs to CBI, the central investigating agency. The state investigating agency summoned Adhikari in connection with the Contai case following a complaint by the widow of the deceased bodyguard, demanding an investigation. Adhikari didn’t comply with the CID summons, stating the matter was pending in court.
The investigation into body guard Subhabrata Chakraborty’s unnatural death in 2018 began on July 9 this year and was later handed over to the CID. A four-member delegation visited East Midnapore and interrogated several officers. The team also visited Adhikari’s home, Shanti Kunj, in Contai.