Kolkata, July 13 (IANS) The Calcutta High Court on Monday granted conditional protection to former state minister Manas Bhunia in a recruitment corruption case.
He had approached the high court fearing arrest in the case. His plea was heard by the single bench of Justice Saugata Bhattacharyya, which granted him protection from any coercive action. However, Bhunia will have to comply with several conditions.
He will not be able to leave the Sabang police station area in West Midnapore district for the time being.
The High Court also ordered the former state minister to cooperate fully with the investigation and to submit his passport to the local police station. On these conditions, the former minister will be able to avoid arrest for the time being. He has been accused of giving jobs for money.
On July 9, Bhunia appeared at the Sabang police station after receiving a summons to be questioned in a cash-for-job scam. According to police, he was questioned for about three hours at the police station. Bhunia, however, did not make any comments after leaving the police station. There are allegations against him that he took several lakhs of rupees on the pretext of promising jobs in the irrigation department while he was the minister.
According to police sources, a written complaint was filed at the Sabang police station that several lakhs of rupees were taken on the promise of a job in the irrigation department. Police started an investigation based on that complaint. The former minister was sent several notices for investigation, but he did not appear at the police station on the first two occasions.
Challenging the notice, Bhunia approached the Calcutta High Court, which ordered him to cooperate in the investigation. After that, the former state irrigation minister appeared at the Sabang police station, and his statement regarding the complaint was recorded during the interrogation.
A young man, a resident of Bishnupur Gram Panchayat in Sabang Assembly area, filed the complaint on June 10. According to his complaint, before the Assembly elections, his wife was given a job under CISB Services Private Limited at Temathani Irrigation Bungalow through the mediation of the then minister Manas Bhunia.
However, in exchange for the job, they had to pay Rs 5 lakh. After that, his wife joined the job and received her salary last March. But within two months, she was dismissed from that job. The young man appealed to the police to take legal action against Bhunia, alleging that he had lost money and his wife had lost her job. Subsequently, police filed an FIR against the former irrigation minister. Bhunia, however, denied the allegations.
Bhunia contested the 2026 Assembly elections on a Trinamool Congress ticket from Sabang constituency but was defeated by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate. He announced his departure from the Trinamool Congress on June 13.
–IANS
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