Bengal school-job case: Verdict on ED's plea seeking minister's custody deferred by a day

Kolkata, Sep 23 (IANS) A special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Kolkata on Tuesday postponed the hearing of the Enforcement Directorate's plea seeking custodial interrogation of West Bengal Minister Chandranath Sinha in connection with the multi-crore cash-for-school-jobs scam case in the state by a day.

The hearing in the matter was concluded on September 20. However, on that day, the judge of the special PMLA court had reserved its order and said that it would be pronounced on Tuesday.

However, today, the judge of the special court, who was supposed to pronounce the verdict, could not turn up at the court in South Kolkata because of the waterlogged streets in the city following rain on Monday night.

Hence, the crucial verdict could not be pronounced. Later, it was announced that the order will be pronounced on Wednesday.

Now it will be clear only on Wednesday whether ED's plea seeking custody of Sinha, West Bengal Correction Services, and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises and Textiles Minister will be granted or the latter's interim bail would be extended.

On September 20, the ED counsel sought seven-day custody for the minister after presenting his arguments in favour of the charges framed against the latter by the central investigating agency.

The main charges framed by ED against Sinha include alleged fictitious financial transactions of Rs 12.73 crore identified in bank accounts held by him and his family members, his inability to justify the sources of inwards cash remittances to his bank account in hefty amounts and in phases, and finally misreporting or under-reporting of income in subsequent income tax declarations, which ED had detailed in its sixth supplementary charge sheet filed in the matter at the special court earlier this month.

Meanwhile, normal functioning at the Calcutta High Court in Kolkata was also hampered to a great extent because several advocates, court officers, court-clerks, and parties related to the cases could not turn up at the court because of the waterlogged streets.

Although the majority of the judges of the Calcutta High Court reached the court premises in time, they also went back after some time because the petitions supposed to be heard at their benches could not be heard because of the absence of parties and others associated with the cases.

--IANS

src/svn