Kolkata, 15 October (H.S.) : The Calcutta High Court on Thursday rejected the anticipatory bail application of singer and former West Bengal minister Indranil Sen in connection with an alleged large-scale financial fraud involving the illicit sale of entry passes for Durga Puja pandals. Apprehending arrest, the former minister had approached the High Court seeking pre-arrest bail. Following extensive arguments from both sides, Justice Tirthankar Ghosh dismissed Sen's petition, significantly escalating legal troubles for the former minister and removing legal obstacles to his potential arrest.

The legal action stems from an FIR registered at the Bowbazar police station based on a complaint filed by Joydeep Mukherjee. The complaint alleged that tickets for Durga Puja preview shows were sold at exorbitant prices by illicitly using the UNESCO name, leading to a financial misappropriation running into crores of rupees. While the state police initiated a probe following the registration of the FIR, the Enforcement Directorate has also been conducting a parallel investigation into the financial irregularities. Central agency officials have questioned Sen and several of his relatives on multiple occasions and examined pertinent financial records.

In a partial relief in a separate matter, the Calcutta High Court granted anticipatory bail to Sen regarding the Chandannagar Festival case. During the hearing of that petition, the court observed that no suspicious financial transactions were traced to Sen's bank accounts, with state counsel identifying Dhrubajyoti Basu as the primary accused in the Chandannagar matter. Meanwhile, commenting on the rejection of Sen's bail plea in the puja pass case, Bengal BJP spokesperson Debjit Sarkar stated that this outcome was inevitable given the institutional corruption and public exploitation presided over by the Trinamool Congress administration.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Satya Prakash Singh