The Calcutta High Court will hear on June 25 a petition filed by the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) challenging the freezing of debit operations in three of its bank accounts by the Bidhannagar Police and seeking quashing of the FIR registered in the matter.
The single-judge Bench of Justice Saugata Bhattacharyya is scheduled to take up the matter on Thursday. Earlier, Senior Advocate Kishore Datta, appearing for the party, sought an urgent hearing on Tuesday. The Court, however, declined the request.
The challenge arises from police action initiated on the basis of a complaint lodged by rebel AITC MLA Biswanath Das. According to the petition, the complaint contained vague and unsubstantiated allegations of large-scale financial irregularities and lacked the material particulars necessary to justify coercive action.
The party contended that the police froze its bank accounts without conducting any preliminary inquiry into the allegations, resulting in serious disruption of its organisational and administrative functioning. It further pointed out that Das had contested and won the recent Assembly elections from the Jaynagar constituency on the party’s ticket and had allegedly received Rs 25 lakh from the same bank accounts that subsequently became the subject matter of the complaint.
The petition argued that this circumstance demonstrated the mala fide and motivated nature of the allegations. Seeking interim relief, the party also prayed for a stay on the investigation pending adjudication of the petition.
The petition further alleged that the impugned action formed part of a broader pattern of political targeting directed against the party and its members following the recent change in the political landscape of the state. It claimed that state agencies were being misused to pursue a political vendetta against AITC, which currently served as the principal opposition party in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly.
The party has sought judicial review of the police action, quashing of the FIR, protection against coercive measures and appropriate directions to ensure a fair and lawful investigation in accordance with constitutional guarantees and principles of natural justice.
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