Calcutta HC adjourns hearing of misappropriation case against Suvendu

Kolkata, June 25

The Calcutta High Court on Friday adjourned the hearing of a petition by Leader of the Opposition in West Bengal assembly Suvendu Adhikari of the BJP, seeking quashing of proceedings in connection with an FIR lodged against him and his brother for alleged misappropriation of cyclone relief materials.

Justice Kausik Chanda, before whose court the matter was listed on Friday, fixed the petition for hearing on June 29 on a prayer by public prosecutor Saswata Gopal Mukherjee.

The high court on June 14 refused a prayer for interim stay on the proceedings against Adhikari and his brother Soumendu, a co-accused in the case.

However, the court had granted liberty to the petitioners to renew their prayer for interim stay on the next date of hearing.

The Adhikaris have been named in an FIR in connection with alleged misappropriation of relief materials at Contai area in Purba Medinipur district and they have moved the high court seeking quashing of proceedings against them.

The lawyer for the Adhikaris claimed that Suvendu was falsely implicated in the case because he has joined the rival political party and has subsequently been appointed as the Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly.

Suvendu, a former minister in the previous Mamata Banerjee government, had joined the BJP leaving the Trinamool Congress. — PTI