Judge recuses from Abhijit Gangopadhyay’s hearing case

Kolkata: Single Bench of Justice Jay Sengupta on Tuesday recused himself from hearing a case filed by former judge and BJP candidate from Tamluk Abhijit Gangopadhyay seeking dismissal of an FIR lodged against him.

Gangopadhyay approached the Court on Monday in connection with an attempted murder case filed against him. The matter was mentioned before Justice Sengupta. Lawyer representing Gangopadhyay, Rajdeep Majumder, alleged overreaction on the part of the police and that the FIR was lodged to prevent him from campaigning for the election.

According to a news report, Justice Sengupta said that he knows the former judge closely and therefore released the matter from his list.

He ordered for the matter to be placed before Chief Justice T S Sivagnanam for it to be heard by another judge. Gangopadhyay had resigned as a judge of the Calcutta High Court in March.

The police had registered an FIR against Gangopadhyay and Bharatiya Yuva Morcha (BJYM) leader Prashanta Das on May 6 for allegedly attacking school employees who lost their jobs at the protest site.

According to a news agency, the incident took place when Gangopadhyay along with Suvendu Adhikari led a rally prior to filing his nomination papers for the Tamluk Lok Sabha seat.