Calcutta, Jan. 4: Calcutta High Court today passed an interim order restraining the state investigating agency from carrying on its probe against a former UCO Bank manager who has been charged with financial irregularities.

K.K. Chakraborty, who used to work for the bank’s Madhyamgram branch, was dismissed from service in March 2006.

Justice Dipankar Dutta issued today’s order citing an amendment to the Central Vigilance Act in 2003, which empowers only a central vigilance agency to conduct a probe against a central government employee on the basis of information provided by the CBI.

Chakraborty had filed a petition challenging the validity of a criminal complaint lodged against him by UCO Bank authorities at Madhyamgram police station.

His counsel, Kalyan Banerjee, told the court that the bank authorities had earlier lodged 52 complaints of financial irregularities with the CBI, which submitted chargesheets on 18 of them. “While the CBI inquiry was going on, the authorities lodged another complaint at Madhyamgram police station and a case was started,” Banerjee said.