Ex-IPS officer Bharati Ghosh's husband held

Kolkata: Former IPS officer Bharati Ghosh's husband MAV Raju was arrested by the state Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on Tuesday on charges of being involved in an extortion case filed at Daspur police station in West Midnapore. Raju was arrested right from outside the premises of the Calcutta High Court after his prayer for anticipatory bail was turned down by Justice Sanjib Banerjee.

"Anticipatory bail prayer of MAV Raju, husband of Bharati Ghosh, in connection with Daspur police station case has been rejected by the High Court. He has been taken into custody," a senior CID official said.

MAV Raju, accompanied by his lawyers, appeared at the Calcutta High Court at 1 pm on Tuesday. Rejecting Raju's anticipatory bail, Justice Banerjee observed that "police had ample reasons to arrest him." Raju was arrested from outside the court premises as soon as he came out of the building. He was immediately taken to CID headquarters at Bhabani Bhavan.

"He will be produced in Midnapore court on Wednesday with a prayer for police remand," a senior CID official said. Bharati Ghosh, the prime accused in the case, is still absconding.

Raju had moved for anticipatory bail in the High Court in February this year. He is an accused in the case along with his wife and five other police personnel.

The case came to light after a resident of Midnapur, Chandan Majhi, on February 1, 2018, lodged a back-dated complaint alleging that some police officers had taken 375 grams of gold without paying him. Interestingly, this complaint was filed a few weeks after Bharati Ghosh's removal. Ghosh was removed as Superintendent of Police, West Midnapore, in December 2017.

During the investigation, the CID sleuths had raided Ghosh's apartment in Kolkata and some other locations and recovered Rs 2.4 crore in cash and gold. They also claimed to have recovered some property papers in MAV Raju's name and liquor worth Rs 35 lakh from a flat at Madurdaha in the city.