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Bengal

Coal scam: HC stays single bench order

KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court Division Bench on Friday stayed the order passed by the single bench over jurisdiction of CBI probe in coal smuggling case.

On Monday, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had moved the division bench challenging the order passed by the single bench. Earlier, CBI had conducted raids in several areas in the state searching for the prime accused in the coal smuggling case, Anup Majhi alias Lala.

He had moved the High Court to scrap the FIR registered by the CBI in coal smuggling claiming that the agency does not have the jurisdiction to investigate the matter.

Last week, after hearing the matter, Justice Sabyasachi Bhattacharyya dismissed the petition and ordered that the High Court would not intervene in the FIR related matter. But, he had observed that before conducting any raid in the jurisdiction of the state government, the investigating agency must seek permission from the state administration.

"From a plain reading of the FIR it cannot be suggested that the offence has been committed at one place as these are chain of events, which are interlinked with the Railways and other officers, including those of Paramilitary Forces. Proper investigation cannot be carried out if the investigation in such cases is divided in parts, drawing lines on territories ," the division bench observed on Friday.

The matter will appear in the list for hearing on April 27.

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