Calcutta HC imposes a penalty of Rs 25 lakh: rejects Abhishek’s plea on his interrogation in teacher recruitment case

Agencies, 18 May 2023, Calcutta : Imposing a penalty of Rs 25 lakh on Banerjee, the court's decision paves the way for the investigative agencies to proceed with their interrogation, while raising further intrigue surrounding the case.

The Calcutta High Court has dismissed a petition filed by Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee on Thursday, which sought the recall of a previous court order allowing investigative agencies like the CBI and ED to interrogate him in a teacher recruitment scam.

Justice Amrita Sinha, while rejecting the petition, imposed a penalty of Rs 25 lakh on Abhishek Banerjee and another Rs 25 lakh on Kuntal Ghosh, an accused in the scam currently in CBI custody. The CBI and ED now have the option to interrogate Abhishek Banerjee in connection with their investigation into the teacher recruitment case.

The TMC leader's name was mentioned in a complaint filed by Kuntal Ghosh, who claimed that he was being pressured by the central investigating agencies to implicate Abhishek Banerjee in the recruitment case. Earlier, Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay had allowed the central agencies to question both Ghosh and Banerjee.

Banerjee had challenged the order in the Supreme Court, citing a news channel interview where Justice Gangopadhyay allegedly spoke against him. Following a Supreme Court order, the cases were reassigned from Justice Gangopadhyay to Justice Sinha.

The Calcutta High Court today dismissed TMC leader and MP Abhishek Banerjee's plea to recall HC's order permitting CBI and ED to interrogate him in connection with the Teacher Recruitment Scam case. Court also imposed a fine of Rs. 25 Lakh on him. With this, the court also dismissed a plea moved by Kuntal Ghosh, an accused in the scam who has already been arrested, who had complained that ED officers had been torturing and pressuring him to implicate Banerjee in the scam. He has also been fined Rs. 25 Lakh. The bench of Justice Amrita Sinha refused to recall the order passed by Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay on April 13 giving liberty to the CBI and ED to interrogate Kuntal Ghosh, an accused in the case, as well as Banerjee.

The bench of Justice Gangopadhyay had ordered thus while hearing a petition relating to alleged irregularities in the recruitment of teaching and non-teaching staff in West Bengal government-sponsored and aided schools. 

Interestingly, Justice Gangopadhyay had taken into account a letter written by expelled Trinamool leader Kuntal Ghosh, wherein he had alleged that he was being pressurised to implicate Banerjee in the recruitment Scam. Banerjee also, in one of his public speeches, claimed that several incarcerated individuals were being forced to implicate him in the case. Hence, Justice Gangopadhyay, on April 13, asked the CBI and ED to interrogate Abhishek Banerjee, if they so deem necessary.

Though the April 13 order was stayed briefly by the Supreme Court on April 17, the Top Court, on April 28, directed the Acting Chief Justice of the Calcutta HC to reassign the matter concerning the Primary Teachers' Recruitment Scam in West Bengal to another judge.

The development had come after the Supreme Court took exception to Justice Gangopadhyay's interview with ABP Ananda wherein he allegedly spoke against Banerjee. Following this, the matter came up before the bench of Justice Sinha. 

Earlier on May 8, the Calcutta High Court pulled up Banerjee for seeking an opportunity of being heard in response to the CBI investigation earlier ordered by the court against him in the West Bengal Teacher Recruitment Scam case. 

The single judge bench of Justice Amrita Sinha said: “How are you aggrieved? What is your apprehension? What is the difficulty, an investigation? Nobody is above an investigation? Why are you aggrieved? If an investigation is done, you co-operate with the investigation? What is troubling you? Whether you are involved or not, let the investigating authority take a decision.”

Today's order is significant in the sense that now, the CBI and ED may, if they so wish, interrogate Abhishek in the matter.