The Supreme Court on Friday ordered that the proceedings against Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee before Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay of the Calcutta High Court be transferred to another judge.
A bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha passed the order in light of Justice Gangopadhyay’s interview with news channel ABP Ananda about Banerjee while the judge was hearing the case.
“Having considered the note prepared by Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay in respect of Annexure P7 and also perused the transcript of the interview, the transcript has been authenticated on April 26, 2023 by the interpreting officer on the original side of the High Court, we direct the Hon’ble admin Chief Justice shall reassign the pending proceedings in the case to some other judge of the Calcutta High Court,” the order reads.
The order was passed in response to Banerjee’s petition challenging the High Court’s order directing the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to investigate him.
The Supreme Court had previously stayed the April 13 judgment ordering a central agency investigation into Banerjee’s alleged role in irregularities in the recruitment of teaching and non-teaching staff at government schools.
Banerjee claimed during a public meeting on March 29 that people in ED and CBI custody were pressured into naming him as a suspect in the case.
Following that, another accused in the case, Kuntal Ghosh, claimed that investigators were pressuring him to take Banerjee’s name. Ghosh was detained by the ED after his arrest until February 2, and then by the CBI from 20th-23rd February.
An appeal was filed, alleging that the High Court cast “unsubstantiated aspersions” on Banerjee and effectively directed the CBI and ED to launch an investigation into him despite the fact that he was neither a party nor connected to the writ petition under consideration.
In his petition, Banerjee also stated that Justice Gangopadhyay, who passed the order had expressed his dislike for the TMC leader in an interview with a news channel in September 2022.
It was also claimed that the judge made disparaging remarks about Supreme Court justices who were hearing appeals of his order in the case. This came after the Supreme Court had previously called for an interim stay on the High Court’s order authorizing CBI and ED investigations against the accused.
