Kolkata: A division bench of the Calcutta High Court on Monday gave conditional permission to the three Congress MLAs from Jharkhand — who were arrested in West Bengal with a huge amount of cash in July, to return to their native state.
The Calcutta High Court’s division bench of Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Bivas Pattanayak ruled that three MLAs — Irfan Ansari from Jamtara, Rajesh Kacchap from Khijri (ST) and Naman Bixal Kongari from Kolebira (ST) will be allowed to go back to Jharkhand only to participate at any assembly session of the state.
However, before leaving West Bengal, these three MLAs will have to inform the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of state police, and also furnish a copy of the letter from Jharkhand assembly inviting them to participate in any session as supporting evidence.
The division bench also ruled that all the three MLAs will have to come back to Kolkata within 24 hours after their participation in any session of the Jharkhand assembly is over.
To recall, on the evening of July 30, 2022, the MLAs were caught with bags of bank notes at Ranihati in Howrah district of West Bengal. When the notes were counted, the total amount was found to be Rs 48 lakh.
These three MLAs were travelling in an SUV along with two other associates.
On the basis of intelligence inputs, the West Bengal police had apprehended them.
This SUV bore the board of Jamtara MLA of Jharkhand. It was reported that the three MLAs who were taken into police custody could not give clear information about the cash found in the vehicle.
After certain rounds of legal deliberations at the Calcutta High Court, the three MLAs were granted bail on August 17. However, the court barred them from leaving Kolkata till further orders.
Recently, the three MLAs again approached the Calcutta High Court’s division bench of Justice Bagchi and Justice Pattanayak with a prayer for permission to be present at the Jharkhand assembly sessions.
On the basis of that, the High Court gave conditional approval to their appeal.
(IANS)
