CBI gets Srinjoy custody for three more days

KOLKATA: An Alipore court on Wednesday remanded undertrial Trinamool Rajya Sabha MP Srinjoy Bose in CBI custody for another three days.
Judicial magistrate Haradhan Mukherjee granted the CBI’s prayer on the ground that the investigators needed Bose for some more days to get to the bottom of the larger conspiracy. Bose has been accused of breach of agreement and non-transparent fund transaction pointing to a conspiracy.
When asked for reason for further custody, CBI officer FB Karna submitted that CBI needed to interrogate Bose along with some other people. “Bose is cooperating in the probe. We have found some sticky transactions that need to be probed further,” he said. The transactions pertain to alleged funds siphoning from Saradha Group boss Sudipta Sen’s Bengal Media Pvt Ltd to Sangbad Pratidin Television Pvt Ltd.
Bose’s defence counsel tried to put up a stiff resistance though. He argued that custody for another three days for his client was not at all necessary. “Bose has been cooperating with the investigating agency. He has submitted all the documents the Special Investigation Team (SIT) had asked for. He has complied with the CBI summons and also furnished documents the agency has asked for,” said Bose’s defence counsel Ashoke Mukherjee.
Mukherjee submitted to the court that Srinjoy has no intention to avoid interrogation. Srinjoy has no intention to tamper evidence because he hasn’t done so all these days, the counsel submitted. Mukherjee also argued that his client will make himself available for questioning as and when the CBI summons him. The defence counsel thus prayed for Bose’s bail under stringent conditions.
Mukherjee also tore into the CBI’s custody prayer citing certain “grey areas” in the investigation process. He pointed out that businessman Sajjan Agarwal is moving around despite the CBI naming him in its charge sheet. “Sajjan Agarwal is out when there is a chance of tampering evidence. Then why the court is not granting bail to Srinjoy Bose when the CBI has not named him in its charge sheet?” he questioned. Arguing for Bose, the defence counsel cited the case of suspended Trinamool MP Kunal Ghosh who is in custody as an alleged conspirator when his name doesn’t figure in the charge sheet.
Srinjoy Bose in his submission to the court pleaded that he was not keeping well. “I am ready to answer CBI’s questions from eight in the morning to eight at night. But I am getting sick in custody. I have high blood pressure and blood sugar and have also undergone bariatric surgery. I have been cooperating with the CBI all along and even came to the CBI on the day my mother was undergoing a critical surgery,” Bose said.