Real estate ‘fraud’ case: Calcutta HC grants bail to man rearrested on same day after initial bail
Kolkata: A vacation bench of the Calcutta High Court gave bail to a man who was re-arrested on the same day he was given bail by the additional chief judicial magistrate (ACJM), Bidhannagar, over allegations similar to the case he was initially arrested by the Lake Town police station.
The vacation bench of Justice Kausik Chanda was moved by the petitioner seeking bail. It was learnt that the petitioner was the director of a real estate company which went into insolvency in 2023. Presently, the company is undergoing a corporate insolvency resolution process and is being controlled by an interim resolution professional.
The petitioner was not associated with the company since 2022, it was submitted. However, several FIRs were filed against him allegedly for not handing over flats to the complainants despite a token sum of amount being paid by them. He was arrested last month in connection with one Lake Town case under various sections of the IPC.
The bail application for the petitioner was moved on the same day and the ACJM granted him bail, observing that the arrest of the accused violated the mandate of the Supreme Court as laid down in Arnesh Kumar and Satyendra Antil cases. Just after being released from custody, he was re-arrested from the car of his advocate in connection with another case at Lake Town PS. This time, his bail was denied by the ACJM. It was submitted that the police adopted “malevolent tactics” and the petitioner is being tagged in cases one after another and re-arrested as soon as he is being released in one case. Most cases relate to offences of cheating, criminal breach of trust where the punishment for offenders is below seven years. Petitioner said that rights under the Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution were blatantly violated by the state.
The HC enlarged the petitioner on bail upon furnishing a bond of Rs 1,00,000 on condition that he will meet the investigating officer once a week until further order.
