A court on Friday sent CPI(M) veteran and former Minister Badal Choudhury to judicial remand till November 11 in a case relating to an alleged ₹640 crore PWD scam. The leader was taken to the court of west Tripura district and sessions judge after his discharge from a government hospital, where he was admitted for the past 10 days.
The court reserved order on the Investigation Officer’s plea for custodial remand of the accused, who was minister of PWD when the alleged scam took place in 2008. The judge could take a decision on police remand after the expiry of Mr. Choudhury’s jail remand, one of the counsels present during the hearing told reporters.
Mr. Choudhury, former Member of Parliament, CPI(M) central committee member and incumbent Deputy Leader in the State assembly, was admitted to the government GBP Hospital after he fell sick in custody of west Agartala police within 30 minutes of his transit from a private hospital. Mr. Choudhury alleged that he was manhandled by the police at the private hospital after discharge and at the police station.
His spouse and daughter filed a complaint with the Police Accountability Commission and a case in the court, based on the allegations. The commission reportedly served show cause notice on three police officers.
Mr. Choudhury’s bail application was earlier rejected in the district court and the High Court. He was made prime accused in the case originally investigated by the Vigilance Department and later handed over to the Crime Branch.
Another important accused in the alleged scam, former PWD Chief Engineer Sunil Bhowmik was arrested and is in jail custody. Chief Secretary Y.P. Singh, who was the Principal Secretary in-charge of PWD in 2008, is also wanted in the same case and remainds elusive despite police searches in Delhi and Gurgaon.
