Calcutta, April 18: Senior police officer Nazrul Islam today moved Calcutta High Court against the government for maligning him by starting a vigilance probe, which it later wound up.

“My client suffered a lot because of the state government’s decision to constitute a probe against him by the vigilance commission. All the leading dailies had reported it. But later, state advocate-general Balai Ray informed the high court that his government had wound up the commission in March this year,” Islam’s lawyer Shaktinath Mukherjee said.

He said the court should ask the government to pay a fine of Re 1 to Islam, the inspector-general of police (enforcement branch), for the harassment . “The state should be fined Re 1 only to set a precedent that the government cannot escape punishment if it does wrong to its employees.”

Pratik Roy, the lawyer appearing for the state, argued that since the commission had been wound up, the government should not be fined.

Justice S.P. Talukdar posted the hearing to May 13.

In 2006, the government had directed the state vigilance commission to inquire into Nazrul’s properties, which it alleged was disproportionate to his income.