Kolkata, June 11 (IANS) A single judge bench of the Calcutta High Court, on Tuesday, extended the stay on any legal proceedings by the police against the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, in a case related to a late-night raid at his rented residence in Kolaghat last month.
Last month amid the Lok Sabha polls, the police carried out a late-night action and raid at the rented residence at Kolaghat in East Madinapur district. Adhikari challenged the action in the single-judge bench of Justice Amrita Sinha.
On May 24, Justice Sinha ordered an interim stay on police action in the matter till June 10. The tenure of that interim stay expired on Monday, following which the matter came up for hearing at Justice Sinha’s bench on Tuesday, where the latter finally extended the stay till June 28.
The next date of hearing in the matter will be on June 19.
During the earlier hearing on May 24, Adhikari’s counsel argued that the police action late at night was conducted deliberately to harass the LoP amid the Lok Sabha polls. However, the state government counsel claimed that the police action that night was in a different case and the cops were not even aware that the place had been rented by the leader of opposition.
On that day, Justice Sinha observed that it was strange that the police in this case went to the place in the early hours just getting a complaint and without proper investigation. “On how many occasions, do the police act so promptly?” she questioned on May 24.
–IANS
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