Kolkata, Feb 27 A single-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court on Friday granted conditional bail to former West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) advisor Santi Prasad Sinha in connection with his alleged involvement in the multi-crore cash-for-school jobs case in the state.
Sinha was granted bail in the case registered against him by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). Earlier, he had secured bail in the case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the same matter.
However, he could not secure release as bail in the ED case was still pending. With the High Court granting him bail in the ED-registered case on Friday, there are no legal hurdles remaining to his release.
Sinha has been in custody for almost four years since his arrest by the CBI on August 10, 2022. His arrest came soon after the ED arrested former West Bengal Education Minister and Trinamool Congress Secretary General Partha Chatterjee in July 2022 in connection with the same case.
While granting bail, the single-judge bench of Justice Jay Sengupta imposed several conditions.
One of the conditions stipulates that Sinha cannot leave the jurisdiction of the police station under which his residence falls without prior permission.
He has also been directed to surrender his passport to the investigating agency. In addition, he must submit two contact numbers to the court as well as to the investigating officers and ensure that he remains reachable at any time on those numbers.
The court further directed Sinha not to contact any of the witnesses in the case or attempt to influence them in any manner.
Justice Sengupta observed that the bail would be liable to be cancelled immediately if he attempts to tamper with evidence in the case.
The single-judge bench also directed the trial court to expedite the trial process in the matter.
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