West Tripura District and Sessions court Judge Sabyasachi Datta Purkayastha after a long hearing on Wednesday in a midnight order rejected the anticipatory bail petition of Choudhury, a sitting MLA and central committee member of the Communist Party of India-Marxist.
Immediately after the court order, huge contingent of Tripura State Rifles (TSR) and police led by senior officials launched a crackdown in many places including headquarters of the CPI-M Tripura state committee to arrest the veteran Left leader.
A Veteran Congress leader and senior lawyer Pijush Kanti Biswas also told the media that as per the FIR of the vigilance wing of Tripura there is absolutely no merit of the case against Choudhury.
"Only as part of the political vendetta of the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) led government, the vigilance wing registered the case against Choudhury and two other former senior officials," Biswas said explaining the entire legal and administrative matters of the issue.
The vigilance wing of Tripura government on Sunday filed charges aginst former Public Works Department (PWD) and Finance Minister, former Principal Secretary (PWD) Y.P. Singh and ex-PWD Chief Engineer Sunil Bhowmik in connection with alleged "misdeeds in implementations of over Rs 638 crore of 13 projects during previous Left Front government in the 2008-09 FYa.
Police arrested Sunil Bhowmik on late Sunday night soon after the FIR was registered at the West Tripura Police Station under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and Prevention of Corruption Act.
Addressing the media here on Wednesday, Law and Education Minister Ratan Lal Nath and Lok Sabha Member Pratima Bhowmik said : "The PWD Department of the previous Left Front government in 2008-09 fiscal clubbing 13 projects (five each of bridge and building projects and three road project) implemented at a cost of Rs 638 crore on a cost plus basis (limited up to maximum of 10 per cent of the esteemed cost).
Describing the corruption "as the biggest scam in the history of Tripura", Nath and Bhowmik said that due to the irregularities of the former minister and other officials, Rs 228 crore had been siphoned off.
The opposition CPI-M in a statement said that the BJP government has hatched a conspiracy against former PWD Minister Choudhury.
CPI-M Tripura state secretary Gautam Das said that the party has decided to fight the "political vendetta" both legally as well as politically.
( With inputs from IANS )