Trinamool Congress leader and former fire and emergency services minister Sujit Bose on Thursday secured Grade-I prisoner status from a special Enforcement Directorate (ED) court during his judicial custody.
Bose, who was produced virtually before the court, had sought the status through his counsel, who argued that the former Bidhannagar MLA should be accorded Grade-I prisoner status at the correctional home where he is lodged.
After hearing both sides, the court allowed the plea.
Sources in the correctional services department said Bose would be housed in a solitary cell with an attached washroom at Presidency Correctional Home, where he has been lodged since May 21. He will be provided with a bed, a table and a fan, and
will remain under continuous CCTV surveillance.
A special ED court remanded him to judicial custody for 14 days.
Senior officers in the West Bengal Correctional Services department said a prisoner awarded Grade-I status is usually lodged in a single or less crowded cell, allowed access to personal clothing, desks, and approved reading materials, including newspapers, and is often served better food.
“A court usually grants Grade-I status after taking into account an inmate’s security concerns and the potential threats they may face,” a senior correctional services department officer said.
“The prison manuals clearly lay down the facilities and privileges available to Grade-I inmates, and jail authorities are well aware of those provisions,” the officer said.
The ED arrested Bose on May 11 for his alleged involvement in irregularities in appointments in South Dum Dum Municipality.
Bose was the vice chairman of the civic body from 2010 to 2021. The alleged irregularities in recruitment took place between 2014 and 2016, ED officials said, adding that close to 150 people were appointed in the municipality during this period.
Bose recently moved Calcutta High Court, challenging his arrest by the central agency.
Opposing Bose’s plea for Grade-I prisoner status, the ED’s counsel told the court that the former MLA was an influential man who had already approached the high court challenging his arrest.
“We have recently gathered fresh information related to the alleged school recruitment scam and have repeatedly summoned an individual for questioning. However, the person has failed to appear, and it is unclear under whose influence he has been evading the probe,” the ED’s counsel told the court.
Pressing his demand for a status upgrade inside prison, Bose’s counsel argued that his client’s name did not feature in the chargesheet submitted by the CBI while investigating the case.
“No link has been established so far about his direct involvement in the transfer of money in this case. His name has not even surfaced in the statements of the other accused,” he told the court.
Bose is not the only one to seek a status upgrade while in judicial custody from the special ED court.
Earlier, on May 28, the arrested deputy commissioner of Kolkata Police, Santanu Sinha Biswas, too had sought a similar status in prison, with his counsel arguing that there was a threat to his client’s life.
The ED arrested Sinha Biswas on May 14 for his alleged involvement in some land-grab cases, using his influence as a senior police officer and allegedly in collusion with two others, including Jay Kamdar and Biswajit Poddar alias Sona Pappu.
While ED arrested Kamdar before Sinha Biswas, Poddar was rounded up on May 18.
Sinha Biswas has served as the officer-in-charge of multiple police stations across several divisions of the Kolkata Police.
He was posted as deputy commissioner (II) of Kolkata Police’s Special Branch before his arrest.