KOLKATA: The Calcutta high court has dismissed a plea filed by ??the three arrested Jharkhand Congress MLAs for transfer of the investigation to CBI.
Instead, the Calcutta high court has allowed CID of West Bengal police to continue the investigation in a fair and impartial manner.
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Three Jharkhand Congress MLAs – Irfan Ansari, Rajesh Kachchap and Naman Bixal Kongari – were arrested by the West Bengal police on July 31 in Howrah.
Nearly Rs 50 lakh in cash was recovered and later seized from the SUV the three Jharkhand Congress MLAs were travelling in.
The West Bengal CID took over the investigation into the case from the Howrah police.
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While, dismissing the plea by the three arrested Jharkhand Congress MLAs justice Moushumi Bhattacharya of the Calcutta high court said that the accused in a case cannot choose the investigating agency.
The court stated that the criminal investigation department (CID) of West Bengal police is entitled to probe the case.
The arrested MLAs argued that as the case allegedly involves other states, the West Bengal CID cannot properly investigate the case.
Notably, a plea for the stay on the investigation by the West Bengal CID was also made before the court, which was not granted.
It may be mentioned here that a Jharkhand Congress MLA filed a complaint against Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma over the seizure of cash from three party MLAs in Bengal.
Congress MLA from Bermo, Kumar Jaimangal Singh in a complaint lodged against Sarma with the Argora police station in Ranchi alleged that his colleagues arrested in Bengal had asked him to meet Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma in Guwahati along with them.
Singh alleged that he was supposed to be promised a ministerial berth and cash worth crores after bringing down the JMM-Congress government in the tribal-dominated state.