Kolkata, June 29 -- The Calcutta High Court on Monday once again declined Trinamool Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee's request for an urgent hearing on his plea seeking permission to travel abroad for medical treatment.
Appearing before Justice Saugata Bhattacharyya's bench, Banerjee's counsel urged the court to take up the matter on priority. However, the judge refused the request, observing that the case would be heard in its normal course as per the roster.
The same plea for an expedited hearing was turned down last week, with the court maintaining that the matter would be listed according to the regular schedule.
Meanwhile, the Calcutta High Court on Monday questioned the manner in which West Midnapore police carried out a pre-dawn search at the Kolkata residence of Trinamool Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee during an investigation into an alleged illegal land transaction involving his personal assistant Sumit Roy.
Hearing a petition filed by the Trinamool Congress, Justice Saugata Bhattacharyya asked the state to explain why the search had to be conducted in the early hours despite the case relating to a 2021 land deal being registered on June 5 this year.
Observing that the search had already been completed on June 13, the court said there was no scope
for granting interim relief at this stage and directed the state to file its affidavit.
The petitioner alleged that police personnel arrived at Banerjee's Kalighat residence around 3 am and later forced open the premises without a search warrant, describing the operation as an excessive exercise of investigative powers.
It also sought preservation of CCTV footage and audio-video recordings of the search.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.