Plaint against Soumendu Adhikari over corruption in Contai civic body: HC seeks report from DM

kolkata: The Calcutta High Court has sought a report from the District Magistrate (DM) of East Midnapore in connection with the alleged corruption of former Contai municipality Chairman Soumendu Adhikari while constructing a building for the Contai Prabhat Kumar college.

Adhikari allegedly granted permission for construction without inviting any tender.

On February 1 this year, a person identified as Abu Sohel lodged an FIR against Adhikari alleging that he had misappropriated a huge amount of money during construction work of the college building and other works. Adhikari was reportedly the president of the governing body of the college. Sohel alleged that the works were done without floating a tender. Also, the construction was done using low-quality materials which may cause an untoward incident.

After police started a probe, Adhikari moved High Court requesting to dismiss the FIR. Regarding the case, Justice Tirthankar Ghosh had granted Adhikari safety from any coercive measure by the police for an interim period till September 21.

The period of interim relief on Wednesday was extended till November 11. Also, the court directed the public prosecutor to submit a report of DM on November 4. Court also cleared that the DM would assess if there is any procedural lapses complained of are correct or has been complied with. Moreover, the DM needs to find out whether any audit has been done in respect of the utilization of the funds disbursed by the government or any statutory authority of the government.