The Calcutta High Court today rejected the anticipatory bail plea of former IPS officer Bharati Ghosh's husband M A V Raju in connection with its
probe into a case of alleged extortion and illegal exchange of banned notes for gold.
Appearing for the state, Advocate General Kishore Dutta opposed the anticipatory bail plea of Raju and submitted that huge amount of money has been seized from his flat.
Dutta submitted before a division bench comprising Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay that other persons have also given statements that Raju had allegedly kept money in their flats.
The AG, who was assisted by public prosecutor Saswata Gopal Mukherjee, told the court that custodial interrogation of Raju is necessary to unravel the missing links and to bring out the larger conspiracy in defrauding the public.
Raju's counsel submitted that he has been cooperating with the state CID, the investigating agency, as directed by the court, and his custody is not required for investigation.
Raju had been granted interim respite by another division bench in February when he moved court with his plea. The court had then restrained the CID from arresting him till disposal of his anticipatory bail plea and had directed him to cooperate with the investigators.
His counsel had earlier submitted that he was being harassed as he was Ghosh's husband.
Ghosh, who was the West Midnapore superintendent of police for more than six years, was transferred as commandant of the third battalion of the state armed police on December 26 last year. She resigned from service two days later.
She was once considered close to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and was also awarded a service medal on August 15, 2014.
The civil servant was transferred twice, once by the Election Commission before the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and the second time by the state itself before the 2016 Assembly elections.
She was, however, reinstated as West Midnapore SP as soon as the elections got over on both occasions.
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