Kolkata: A single-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court, on Friday, granted interim protection from coercive police action, including arrest, to former Trinamool Congress legislator Aditi Munshi and her husband Debraj Chakraborty till June 19, which will also be the next date of hearing in the matter.
Munshi, also an acclaimed devotional singer, and her husband on Thursday approached the Calcutta High Court’s single-judge bench of Justice Jay Sengupta seeking anticipatory bail on the apprehension that they might be arrested on charges of disproportionate assets.
The matter came up for hearing on Friday and, after a detailed hearing, Justice Sengupta’s bench granted Munshi and her husband interim protection from coercive police action, including arrest, till June 19.
Former CPI-M Rajya Sabha member and senior advocate Bikas Ranjan Bhattacharya appeared as counsel for Munshi and her husband.
The state government counsel and West Bengal Additional Advocate General Rajdeep Majumdar, in his argument, said that before the recently concluded West Bengal Assembly elections, Munshi and her husband transferred around Rs 100 crore worth of assets either anonymously or in the names of relatives and acquaintances.
According to Majumdar, this was done deliberately to understate the amount of assets in Munshi’s election affidavit.
The state government counsel also questioned the huge assets and sources of income of Munshi and her husband. He alleged that the couple acquired huge assets through extortion, running syndicates and land grabbing in the area where Munshi was a former Trinamool Congress legislator.
According to the state government counsel, Munshi also had a bank account in Kalimpong and money from that account, as well as some other accounts, was transferred before the Assembly elections.
In his counter-argument, Bhattacharya said that transferring assets in another person’s name was not a punishable criminal offence.
“If there are charges of disproportionate assets against them, then it should be the Income Tax Department and not the police that would act against them. Giving misinformation in the election affidavit might be considered an electoral violation, but not a criminal offence. There are no allegations that my clients have committed criminal offences,” Bhattacharya argued.
Thereafter, the state government counsel also informed the court that Munshi’s husband, who is himself a Trinamool Congress councillor, had a pending case against him regarding his alleged involvement in post-poll violence after the 2021 West Bengal Assembly elections.
After hearing both sides, Justice Sengupta’s bench finally granted protection from coercive police action to Munshi and her husband till June 19.
Justice Sengupta also directed the state government to submit all evidence related to the charges against Munshi and her husband before the court by the next date of hearing.
The state police were directed to submit a progress report on the investigation by the same date.
(IANS)
