Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay of the high court said on Thursday the officers investigating the alleged corruption in school recruitments should bring Kuntal Ghosh, a suspended Trinamul leader in custody, and Trinamul national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee face-to-face and question them.
The judge wants the sleuths to question the two on a purported letter sent by Ghosh to the Special (CBI) court-1 and Hasting police station.
Ghosh, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in January for his alleged role in the school recruitment scam, is said to have mentioned in the letter that investigators had been physically torturing him to implicate Banerjee in the case.
On Wednesday, the lawyer appearing for the ED informed Justice Gangopadhyay that Ghosh had written letters to the Special (CBI) Court-1 and Hastings police station, accusing ED officials of pressuring him.
Ghosh’s letter was brought to the court on Wednesday.
After reading the letter, the judge, as part of an interim order, directed the police not to take any action against an ED officer based on the purported letter till the case was heard on Thursday.
The judge had kept the letter in a sealed cover before the registrar general of thecourt.
On Thursday, Justice Gangopadhyay went through the letter again.
Appearing for the petitioners in the corruption case, advocate Bikash Bhattacharyya said the letter was written at someone’s instigation and that allegations made in it were false.
Justice Gangopadhay primarily held that the letter written by Ghosh was pre-planned, concocted and based on false allegations.
The judge remarked: “It seems the investigators have so far succeeded in reaching the waist of the crime and will be able to reach up to the ear and head of the crime soon.”
He accepted Bhattacharyya’s submission and said Ghosh had written the letter after Banerjee had addressed a rally at the Shaheed Minar ground on March 29 saying investigators were torturing some of the accused to force them to implicate him in the school scam case.
The matter will be heard again on April 20.
The judge extended Wednesday’s interim order restraining the police from taking steps against any CBI or ED official on the basis of the letter.
