HC directs Bharati Ghosh's husband to deposit passport

Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Thursday directed Bharati Ghosh's husband MAV Raju to keep his passport under the custody of High Court and not to venture out of Netaji Nagar police station without further orders.

The division bench of the High Court, however, directed the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) not to arrest Raju till March 15, in connection with its probe into a case of alleged extortion and illegal exchange of banned notes for gold.

The orders were passed by Justice Joymalya Bagchi and R Bharadwaj, while hearing an anticipatory bail plea of Raju. He was directed to cooperate with the investigators and appear before the investigating officer at Netaji Nagar police station, once a week.

When asked about the reason behind moving the plea for anticipatory bail since the name of Raju has not figured in the FIR, his counsel Bhaskar Sen submitted that CID has conducted search and seizure operations at his residence and has taken away several documents and land deeds as well as other assets, including gold ornaments of their household deity.

He also alleged that his client was facing harassment as he was the husband of Bharati Ghosh and the recent activities of CID have made him apprehensive about his arrest in the case.

Denying the harassment allegations levelled by Raju's counsel, state Advocate General Kishore Datta said that a large amount of money has been recovered from the residence of Raju and his wife, apart from deeds of land holdings.

Datta told the court that CID wants to question Raju to find out whether there is any connection between the alleged cheating case and the money and documents recovered. He stated that Raju had not appeared before CID even after notice was served to him, citing health conditions.

After hearing both the parties, the division bench has directed Raju to cooperate with the investigators.

In its interim order, the court has fixed March 12 as the next date for hearing his anticipatory bail plea.