Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Friday criticised the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for their inability to present detailed information on the Saradha scam while hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) even after almost eight years.
The Division Bench of the Calcutta High Court led by Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava and Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj raised questions about the CBI's investigation after it failed to submit details that emerged during the probe of the case.
The plaintiff's lawyer Soumya Majumder said that the CBI is investigating the case under the orders of the Supreme Court and that Sudipta Sen is still behind bars. Dissatisfied with the CBI's submission, the bench decided to keep the order in the case pending while asking the agency to submit the details on September 5.
The PIL was filed by lawyer Anindya Sundar Das. It raised questions about the police investigating the disappearance of documents related to the Contai municipality when the Saradha scam was being probed by the CBI.
The state lawyer countered it by maintaining that the case with regards to the Contai municipality was of theft and thus, has no links with the scam being investigated by the CBI. The advocate also raised a question about the progress of the investigation by the central agency, which has been going on since 2014.
On July 31, police officers from Contai police station interrogated Sen, the prime accused in the Saradha money laundering case at the Presidency Correctional Home, in connection with the theft of documents related to the proposed construction of a high-rise building in Contai.
The team of cops, including the Inspector-in-Charge (IC) of Contai police station, interrogated Sen for more than four hours and left. The officers said that the Saradha chief had cooperated with them and answered all their questions.
Sen had filed a petition before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate where he alleged that Suvendu Adhikari had taken Rs 52 lakh from him to sanction the plan by the Contai municipality for a 19-storeyed building. He had paid the money through a draft. Recently, the Contai municipality lodged a complaint with the police saying that it had failed to trace the file related to the proposed high-rise building. However, the accounts department of the municipality confirmed that the draft worth Rs 52 lakh was deposited by Saradha Realty.