Suvendu Adhikari files petition before Calcutta HC seeking transfer of criminal cases to CBI

Alleging that he is subjected to “political vendetta”, Leader of Opposition in West Bengal Assembly and BJP MLA Suvendu Adhikari has filed a petition before the Calcutta High Court seeking transfer of all criminal cases registered against him by the state police to the CBI. Adhikari also prayed for an order of quashing of FIRs registered against him by the state police. The BJP MLA filed the writ petition on Thursday seeking transfer of the criminal cases against him to the CBI for an “impartial investigation”. Alleging that he is being subjected to “political vendetta” since he is an opposition party leader and the cases were registered against him with “false claims”, Adhikari also sought an order of the high court directing quashing of the FIRs against him.

The state police and its Criminal Investigation Department (CID) are probing a number of cases that relate to Adhikari. Amid the nationwide row over alleged snooping activities with Pegasus spyware, the BJP leader stoked a controversy when he said that he got access to call details of Purba Medinipur district SP Amarnath K, prompting the police on Tuesday to file suo motu cases against him. Adhikari, during a party meeting in the district’s Tamluk area on Monday, had also publicly advised the local police chief to “refrain from doing anything that might lead to his transfer to Kashmir”. The Nandigram MLA narrowly defeated Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in assembly elections held earlier this year. The district police is also probing a case of alleged pilferage of relief material in Purba Medinipur. The state CID is investigating an unnatural death of a police constable, who was part of Adhikari’s security team three years ago when he was a minister in the previous TMC government. A case of murder was instituted recently on the basis of a complaint of the constable’s widow and the probe was handed over to the CID by the state.