Calcutta HC grants bail to retired cop in BJP worker murder case

Kolkata, Aug 28 (IANS) The Calcutta High Court on Thursday granted bail to retired Assistant Commissioner of Kolkata Police (then Officer in Charge of Narkeldanga Police Station) Shubhajit Sen, who was arrested in the murder case of BJP worker Abhijit Sarkar of Kankurgachi in post-poll violence in 2021.

Justice Shubhra Ghosh granted bail to Sen, who had been in jail custody till now. However, the court has put some conditions.

While on bail, Shubhjit Sen will not be able to enter the Narkeldanga area, will not try to influence the witnesses in the case in any way and will have to inform the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is probing the murder case, of his phone number and also will not be able to change his phone number without prior notice to CBI.

At the same time, he will have to deposit his passport with the lower court and cannot travel outside the country without the court's permission.

It may be noted that several policemen and officials have been implicated in this almost four-and-a-half-year-old case. On July 18, the special CBI court ordered the then Kolkata Police Sub-inspector Ratna Sarkar and Home Guard Dipankar Debnath to be sent to judicial custody. In addition, the judge on that day rejected the bail applications of Shubhajit Sen and his accomplice in the murder, Sujata De, sending them to jail custody.

However, Ratna and Dipankar were granted bail earlier this month. Although the CBI opposed their bail in the Calcutta High Court, Justice Joy Sengupta finally allowed the bail application of the two policemen. This time, another accused in the case, Shubhajit Sen, also got bail.

BJP worker Abhijit Sarkar was killed in post-poll violence following the declaration of the 2021 West Bengal Assembly election results. The family alleged that Sarkar was beaten and strangled to death after the results were announced.

Initially, the Narkeldanga police station was investigating the incident. Later, on the orders of the Calcutta High Court, the investigation was transferred from the police to the CBI.

The police initially filed a charge sheet against 15 people in that case. The CBI, later, filed the first additional charge sheet in September 2021. It named a total of 20 accused, 15 of whom were also named in the charge sheet submitted by the police.

On July 2 this year, the central investigation agency filed a supplementary charge sheet. The list of accused includes Beleghata Trinamool MLA Paresh Pal, Kolkata Municipal Corporation councillors Swapan Samaddar and Papiya Ghosh. The names of Shubhajit, Sujata, Dipankar, and Ratna were also in the charge sheet.

On August 21, the Calcutta High Court granted anticipatory bail to Beleghata Trinamool MLA Paresh Pal and two councillors, Papiya Ghosh and Swapan Samaddar.

Justice Joy Sengupta also said in the order that if they are arrested on the basis of the summons sent by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), they will be granted bail on a personal bond of Rs one lakh. The judge, however, imposed several conditions on their bail.

--IANS

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