Ritabrata Banerjee granted bail by Balurghat court

Darjeeling: Member of Parliament Ritabrata Banerjee surrendered before a Balurghat court on Monday. He was granted anticipatory bail in another case.

On October 10, police had initiated a case against Banerjee based on a complaint against him at the Balurghat Police Station in South Dinajpur district of West Bengal by software engineer Namrata Dutta, pressing charges of sexual exploitation against the MP. The case was later transferred to the CID. On November 3, the MP had filed anticipatory bail petition at a District Court in Balurghat. He had been granted conditional anticipatory bail against a personal bond of Rs. 5000. He has been ordered to surrender within 3 weeks and cooperate with the investigating agency. "As per the court's direction Ritabrata Banerjee surrendered in the court," stated Anirban Guhathakurta, Banerjee's lawyer.

The software engineer then lodged a fresh complaint at the Balurghat police station naming the expelled TMC leader (who later joined BJP) Banerjee, his fiancé Durba Sen and Archana Majumdar, a physician close to Banerjee alleging that they were threatening her to hide information from the Court. The accused had been charged under sections 120B/195A/214 and 506 of the Indian Penal Code.

On November 17, during the hearing, the CID had prayed for more time for investigation. On Monday, the Balurghat Session's court granted anticipatory bail to Banerjee and Durba Banerjee (Sen)

Ritabrata Banerjee is a Member of Parliament (MP), who was on September 17 expelled from primary membership of the CPI(M) party for grave anti-party activities, including "moral degeneration in relation to woman", is knee deep in controversy with the woman alleging that the MP had sexually exploited her.