Kolkata, Jan 3 – The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday conducted in-camera hearing of the crucial case related to the assets of a corporate entity whose named surfaced during the course of investigation into the multi-crore cash-for-school-jobs case in West Bengal.
During the hearing conducted by the single-judge bench of Justice Amrita Sinha, a joint director of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) was present virtually.
A medical expert from the Centre-run ESI Hospital was also supposed to be present details about the time required for conducting the voice-sample test of Sujay Krishna Bhadra, a prime accused in the case. However, just before the beginning of the hearing, Justice Sinha ordered suspension of live-streaming of the proceedings.
All the visitors who were not related to the case were directed to leave the court premises before the beginning of the hearing.
The development came a day after the ED informed the bench that it has initiated the process of confiscating the assets of the said corporate entity.
The ED submitted a report on the details of the assets of the corporate entity to Justice Sinha and informed her bench that the agency has identified eight assets for which the confiscation process has started.
On Tuesday, the ED had also informed the court that it is currently examining the details of the bank accounts of the corporate entity, adding that it has also decided to freeze those accounts.
Legal brains feel that the decision to conduct in-camera hearing was probably taken with a definite purpose in mind, so that the report on the progress of investigation submitted to the court by the ED does not come out in the public domain before the investigation process is completed.
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