The Supreme Court on Monday Refused to interfere in the CBI & ED probe against Abhishek Banerjee, the national general secretary of the All India Trinamool Congress (AITMC), regarding the West Bengal school job for cash scam case.
The top Court upheld the Calcutta High Court’s decision to dismiss Banerjee’s plea seeking the recall of an order permitting the CBI and ED to interrogate him in the case.
The Supreme Court, while setting aside the costs of ₹25 lakh imposed on Banerjee by the High Court, clarified that this should not be taken as an expression on the merits of the High Court judge’s approach.
Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha, the bench comprising the Chief Justice and Justice Narasimha, stated that the High Court judge correctly concluded that the investigation should not be halted by issuing a direction at this stage.
The Court refused to interfere with the High Court’s order, as it believed that doing so would impede the ongoing investigation.
However, the Court noted that Banerjee could pursue other remedies, including Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
The Court’s order stated that, “Single judge held that there is no reason to prevent the investigation being carried out by ED considering the ramifications of the matter. It can be seen that single judge has correctly come to the conclusion that such a direction cannot be issued at the present stage. We are therefore not inclined to interfere with the order as it would stifle the investigation at this stage. However, we leave it open to the petitioner to pursue remedies including Section 482.”
Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing Banerjee, argued that there were errors in the order and expressed concern about the ED’s actions based on an allegation made by a judge.
Additional Solicitor General SV Raju stated that ₹350 crores had been discovered so far in the primary school teacher recruitment scam. Raju emphasized that Banerjee should cooperate with the investigation when summoned.
The Supreme Court bench observed that conducting the investigation at this stage would not be appropriate, given that the ED has independent powers to investigate various aspects of the case.
The Court clarified that the High Court’s observations would not hinder Banerjee if he were to avail of other remedies.
The case originated when Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay of the Calcutta High Court ordered a CBI and ED probe against Banerjee on April 13. The High Court’s decision was in response to an ED plea seeking protection from action by the State Police following allegations made by one of the accused, Kuntal Ghosh.
Ghosh claimed that he was being subjected to torture by ED officers and coerced into implicating Banerjee in the case.
Justice Amrita Sinha later took over the case from Justice Gangopadhyay. On May 18, Justice Sinha dismissed the applications by Banerjee and Ghosh to recall the earlier order and imposed costs of ₹25 lakh on each of them.
In her order, Justice Sinha also criticized the two central agencies for the slow pace of their investigations.
