New Delhi, Nov 29 (UNI) The Supreme Court on Friday granted bail to TMC leader Kuntal Ghosh, who has been in judicial custody, in connection with the cash-for-jobs recruitment scam case registered by the CBI.
A bench comprising Justice Surya Kant and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan granted the bail considering the unlikelihood of the trial completing soon.
The Court said, “The petition is allowed and petitioner is directed to be released on bail, subject to conditions to be imposed by Trial Court.” The Court also directed that Ghosh can’t hold any public office for now.
Ghosh’s counsel said that in July 2024, the investigation was still underway…trial court observed this in July… the investigation is not complete even to the extent that charges can be framed…Custody of over 19 months. 3 co-accused were granted bail.
CBI counsel alleged that Ghosh created a parallel website.
Justice Kant said, “ Last time you said you (CBI) propose to examine 183 witnesses. Your investigation is not complete. We don’t want to impede your investigation, but the fact remains that process is taking further time. One can foresee process will take good amount of years…that’s a practical approach, he said.
CBI counsel said that Crores of rupees was collected from undeserving candidates for jobs…he is highly influential.
Justice Kant said he has been granted bail in the ED matter.
CBI’s allegations against Gosh are that he is a prominent leader of a political party which is presently ruling the state. Under a deep-rooted conspiracy, the petitioner is alleged to have created a fake website resembling the original website where false results regarding the recruitment of primary teachers were displayed.
The petitioner is alleged to have collected bribes from undeserving candidates…one of his co-accused alone collected over 4 crore from 141 candidates and diverted to petitioner.
The petitioner was arrested on February 20, 2023, and has been in custody since then. He was accused in the ED case also.
Calcutta High Court has granted bail in the aforesaid ED case, adverting to the subject case registered by CBI.
The Court noted, “It appears that a chargesheet was filed on January 16, 2024. The said chargesheet revealed that no documents were appended.
Consequently, the special judge directed the investigating agency to submit all relied-upon documents, so that the court could consider cognizance.
On July 23, 2024, the court observed investigation was still underway and it was thus not conceivable for that court to commence trial and charges could not be framed.
The Court noted that the Additional Solicitor General (for CBI) has submitted that owing to the nature of the allegations, CBI is required to examine the plethora of documents and 100s of candidates, who are alleged victims of the alleged scam.
Supplementary charge sheet(s) will be filed, the court noted.
The Court said It is true that owing to the nature of the allegations and the nature of the evidence required to be collected, it is natural that the agency is likely to take some more time to file the final supplementary chargesheet.
It’s too early to foresee the conclusion of the trial in the near future…Detention of petitioner in custody for an indefinite period will not be in conformity with well-settled principles of criminal jurisprudence.
The court said that a balance can be struck by restoring conditional liberty to the petitioner, in such a manner that he does not impede investigation.