Court rejects bail of ex-Left minister in alleged scam

Agartala: In a major setback for the Left parties, former PWD and Finance Minister Badal Choudhury’s arrest by the police is imminent as District and Session Court has in a midnight order rejected the ex-Left government’s senior minister’s anticipatory bail plea in an alleged corruption case.
West Tripura District and Sessions court Judge Sabyasachi Datta Purkayastha after a long hearing on Wednesday in a midnight order rejected the anticipatory bail petition of Choudhury, a sitting MLA and central committee member of the Communist Party of India-Marxist.
Immediately after the court order, huge contingent of Tripura State Rifles (TSR) and police led by senior officials launched a crackdown in many places including headquarters of the CPI-M Tripura state committee to arrest the veteran Left leader.
A Veteran Congress leader and senior lawyer Pijush Kanti Biswas also told the media that as per the FIR of the vigilance wing of Tripura there is absolutely no merit of the case against Choudhury.
“Only as part of the political vendetta of the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) led government, the vigilance wing registered the case against Choudhury and two other former senior officials,” Biswas said explaining the entire legal and administrative matters of the issue.
The vigilance wing of Tripura government on Sunday filed charges aginst former Public Works Department (PWD) and Finance Minister, former Principal Secretary (PWD) Y.P. Singh and ex-PWD Chief Engineer Sunil Bhowmik in connection with alleged “misdeeds in implementations of over Rs 638 crore of 13 projects during previous Left Front government in the 2008-09 FYa.