Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday directed that no coercive action be taken for now against Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLA from Beleghata, Paresh Paul and two Kolkata Municipal Corporation councillors—Swapan Samaddar and Papiya Ghosh—after they sought anticipatory bail in connection with the alleged murder of Abhijit Sarkar during the 2021 post-poll violence.
The hearing took place before the bench of Justice Jay Sengupta. The three leaders moved the court after their names appeared in the second supplementary chargesheet submitted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on July 2 in the Sarkar murder case. The chargesheet names 18 accused in total.
During the hearing, the accused claimed they had been falsely implicated in a politically motivated case and that the Central agency was being misused. The case dates back to the violence that allegedly broke out across several parts of Bengal after the results of the Assembly elections were declared on May 2, 2021. Sarkar was allegedly killed in Kankurgachi that same day. His family alleged that he was strangled with a cable and beaten to death.
The initial investigation was conducted by Narkeldanga police. Later, the High Court transferred the probe to the CBI.
The police had first filed a chargesheet against 15 persons. In September 2021, the CBI submitted its first supplementary chargesheet naming 20 accused—15 of whom were already named in the police chargesheet. The second supplementary chargesheet added the names of Paul, Samaddar and Ghosh.