Anticipatory bail granted to ex-TMC MLA Aditi Munshi

The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday granted conditional anticipatory bail to former TMC MLA and singer Aditi Munshi in a case related to the alleged acquisition of disproportionate assets, but refused similar relief to her husband, who is also an accused in the case. Justice Jay Sengupta granted anticipatory bail to Munshi, former MLA from Rajarhat Gopalpur, noting that she is a woman and is currently caring for a four-month-old infant. The prosecution claimed that unexplained assets worth more than Rs 100 crore connected to the couple have come to light during the investigation. The court, however, refused the anticipatory bail prayer of her husband, Debraj Chakraborty, who is a TMC councillor of Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation. After hearing their pre-arrest bail pleas in connection with an FIR lodged at Baguiati police station following a complaint by BJP MLA Tarunjyoti Tewari, Justice Sengupta directed the singer-politician to deposit her passport with the jurisdictional court forthwith and barred her from travelling abroad without prior permission of the court. She was also directed to stay outside the jurisdiction of the Baguiati police station till the completion of the investigation and not influence or get in touch with the witnesses of this case. Seeking anticipatory bail for the politician couple, their lawyer stated that the allegation against them is of acquiring properties from undisclosed income and disposing of a bulk of such assets immediately before an affidavit was to be filed before the Election Commission. Munshi was a TMC candidate from Rajarhat Gopalpur for re-election, but lost the poll to Tewari. Claiming that transferring property is not illegal, their counsel, Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, stated before the court that no case for organised crime has been made out because there is no allegation of extortion or land grabbing. He stated that the Income Tax authorities would be at liberty to take appropriate action if the issue is about penalising someone for not disclosing income.