Calcutta High Court stays proceedings against Suvendu Adhikari, brother in tarpaulin scam case

The Calcutta Excessive Court docket on Monday ordered a keep on all additional proceedings in a case of alleged tarpaulin theft in opposition to Chief of Opposition in West Bengal meeting Suvendu Adhikari and his brother Soumendu. Passing the interim order, Justice Kausik Chanda noticed that political overtones of this legal case can’t be brushed apart.

The court docket ordered that there will probably be a keep on all additional proceedings pending earlier than the extra chief judicial Justice of the Peace, Contai, Purba Medinipur district, until six weeks after the following Puja trip.

Justice Chanda directed that the other celebration might file affidavits-in-opposition inside two weeks after the Puja trip.

The court docket mentioned the petitioners might file affidavits in reply inside one other week after that.

The petition of Suvendu and Soumendu, a former chairman of Contai Municipality, praying for quashing of proceedings in opposition to them in reference to the case in Contai police station will probably be taken up for listening to once more 4 weeks after Puja trip, the court docket directed.

P S Patwalia, senior advocate showing for Suvendu Adhikari submitted that the petitioners had been implicated on this case since they’d modified their political affiliation from the ruling Trinamool Congress to the opposition BJP.

Senior advocate Kishore Datta, representing the state, submitted that because the criticism discloses cognizable offences, it’s necessary for the police to lodge an FIR.

Observing that political overtones of this current legal case can’t be brushed apart with each the petitioners having left the ruling celebration and joined the opposition celebration, the court docket mentioned that the current legal continuing is without doubt one of the contemporaneous legal instances launched in opposition to Suvendu Adhikari quickly after the change of his political affiliation.

Justice Chanda additionally took be aware of an earlier order of one other bench of the excessive court docket whereby it had mentioned “Prima facie there seems to be an try at implicating and victimising him (Suvendu Adhikari) in legal instances and mala fides, malice and collateral objective in registering the FIRs in opposition to the petitioner and his associates.”

It was claimed by Suvendu Adhikari’s legal professionals that a minimum of six legal instances have been lodged in opposition to him at varied police stations within the state since he modified his political affiliation.