In the BJP worker murder case linked to the 2021 West Bengal post-poll violence, the Calcutta High Court granted anticipatory bail to TMC MLA Paresh Paul and two leaders, directing release on Rs 1 lakh bond with sureties.
Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court granted anticipatory bail to Trinamool Congress MLA Paresh Paul and two other party leaders in connection with a CBI investigation into the alleged murder of a BJP supporter amid post-poll violence following the 2021 West Bengal assembly elections.
Justice Jay Sengupta stated that if the petitioners are arrested, they will be released on bail upon providing a bond of Rs 1 lakh along with two sureties of the same amount, one of whom must be local.
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The court also instructed Paul and the others not to intimidate witnesses or enter the street where the victim’s mother and brother live until the trial concludes.
Additionally, Justice Sengupta ordered Paul to refrain from making any provocative statements, particularly regarding the family of the deceased, Abhijit Sarkar, who was allegedly killed near his home after the elections.
The petitioners were further instructed not to leave the country without the trial court’s permission and to appear in court on scheduled hearing dates.
The high court granted anticipatory bail considering that while most evidence against them was available to the CBI when the first supplementary charge sheet was filed, the agency chose not to include them as accused.
The court noted that the CBI submitted a second supplementary charge sheet based on further materials approximately four years after the first one, and that the petitioners had cooperated with the investigation throughout this period.