Bengal post-poll violence case: Trinamool MLA, 2 councillors file anticipatory bail pleas at HC

Kolkata, July 15 A Trinamool Congress legislator and two councillors of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), who were named as accused in the latest supplementary charge sheet in the 2021 post-poll violence case in West Bengal, on Tuesday, approached a single judge bench of the Calcutta Court seeking anticipatory bail.

The single judge bench of Justice Jay Sengupta admitted the individual anticipatory bail petitions from Paresh Paul, the Trinamool Congress legislator from the Beliaghata Assembly constituency in north Kolkata, and the two party councillors, namely Swapan Samaddar from ward number 58 and Papiya Ghosh from ward number 30. Samaddar is also a member (mayor-in-council) of KMC.

The matter is expected to come up for hearing on Wednesday.

The Central Bureau of Investigation had already served notices summoning Paul, Samaddar, and Ghosh, asking them to be present at the CBI’s Kolkata office for interrogation by July 18. So, party insiders said, the three leaders have moved the anticipatory bail plea seeking protection from any coercive action, including arrest in the matter.

Paul was the only legislator from the state to be questioned by the CBI sleuths earlier in the case.

On July 2, CBI issued a statement claiming that it had submitted a supplementary charge sheet at a special court in Kolkata on June 20, naming 18 additional accused persons, including the legislator and two councillors.

Besides Paul, Samaddar, and Ghosh, the former officer-in-charge of Narkeldanga Police Station, Subhojit Sen, and the former woman sub-inspector of the same police station, Ratna Sarkar, were also named as accused in CBI's fresh supplementary charge sheet.

To recall, Abhijit Sarkar was killed on May 2, 2021, soon after the results of the 2021 West Bengal Assembly elections were declared, where Trinamool Congress bagged a landslide victory.

Initially, the investigation into the matter was started by the homicide squad under the detective department of Kolkata Police, which in its charge sheet named 15 people as accused.

Subsequently, following an order of the Calcutta High Court, the CBI took over the investigation by registering a case in August 2021 and in September 2021 filed a supplementary charge sheet against 20 accused persons, including the 15 previously charge-sheeted by the city police.

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