SC grants bail to former TMC youth leader Kuntal Ghosh in CBI case
Ghosh was arrested in January 2023 in connection with allegations that he collected bribes from candidates for their selection as teachers in the state
The Supreme Court on Friday granted regular bail to former Trinamool Congress (TMC) youth leader Kuntal Ghosh in a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) case linked to the West Bengal primary school recruitment case.
Allowing his petition for bail in the CBI case after the Calcutta high court had on November 20 released him in the Enforcement Directorate (ED) case, a bench headed by justice Surya Kant directed him not to leave the state of West Bengal without prior permission of the trial court and restrained him from speaking to media about the case.
The high court had already directed him to deposit his passport with the trial court with an additional condition to share his mobile number with the investigating officer to make himself available for investigation.
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The bench, also comprising justice Ujjal Bhuyan agreed to grant bail after Ghosh’s lawyer MS Khan informed that the investigation in the case is not complete and in July, the trial court recorded in its order that the CBI is yet to submit the documents relied by it for filing the charge sheet.
He said that there was no possibility of the trial beginning soon and he has remained incarcerated since his arrest by the CBI in February 2023.
The bench said, “It is too early to foresee conclusion of trial in near future. In the given circumstances, we are of the view that detention of the petition in custody for an indefinite period will not be in conformity with the well-established principles of criminal jurisprudence.”
Directing the trial court to impose conditions of bail, the bench asked for the additional conditions after CBI alleged that the allegations were grave, and the petitioner wields considerable influence in the state.
“The petitioner shall not be appointed to hold any public office during the pendency of proceedings. He shall not make any statements in the media on the allegations with an intent to prejudice the investigation or influence witnesses”, the bench said.
He was further asked to deposit passport and not leave the state without prior permission of the court or CBI.
Additional solicitor general (ASG) Raja Thakre appearing for the investigating agency informed the court that it will be filing a further supplementary chargesheet by end of next month. He even requested the bail plea to be deferred by another six months.
The bench told ASG, “We don’t want to impede your investigation as it is a case where multiple accused are there and there is plethora of documents in evidence. But the fact remains that the investigation process will take time.”
The case against Ghosh was registered by CBI in June 2022 under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Prevention of Corruption Act.
Ghosh was arrested in January 2023 in connection with allegations that he collected bribes from candidates for their selection as teachers in the state. CBI registered a case in 2022. In June 2022, ED also filed a case and proceeded to investigate money laundering allegations.
