Constitute special court for hearing Saradha scam:High Court to West Bengal Govt

KOLKATA: Expressing disappointment with the West Bengal government for not following its earlier recommendations, the Calcutta High Court today directed the government to constitute a special court for hearing all cases related to the Saradha chit fund scam.

In its order, a division bench of Justice Asim Kumar Banerjee and Justice Arijit Banerjee said the government must bring all cases in the scam under the ambit of a single court for speedy disposal.

On July 19, the bench had recommended that the state should examine the possibility of establishing a special court.

In its order, the court said the Enforcement Directorate should be given access to interrogate the accused by state agencies.

The ED had complained to the court that they were not being given the opportunity by the Kolkata Police to interrogate prime accused Sudipto Sen and Debjani Mukherjee.

The SIT had also written a letter challenging ED's claim that they have the right to take charge in the matter under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.

The court criticised this letter saying that the SIT's letter is not justified.