Cal HC grants bail to school jobs scam accused Sujoy Krishna Bhadra

The Calcutta High Court on Friday granted bail to alleged school jobs scam accused Sujoy Krishna Bhadra in a PMLA case being probed by the Enforcement Directorate ED.Granting his bail prayer, Justice Suvra Ghosh said the Supreme Court has time and again held that prolonged incarceration before being pronounced guilty of an offence should not be permitted to become punishment without trial.She directed Bhadras release on a bond of Rs 10 lakh with adequate sureties, half of whom must be local.

The Calcutta High Court on Friday granted bail to alleged school jobs scam accused Sujoy Krishna Bhadra in a PMLA case being probed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

Granting his bail prayer, Justice Suvra Ghosh said the Supreme Court has time and again held that prolonged incarceration before being pronounced guilty of an offence should not be permitted to become punishment without trial.

She directed Bhadra's release on a bond of Rs 10 lakh with adequate sureties, half of whom must be local. Additionally, Bhadra was instructed to surrender his passport to the trial court and not leave its jurisdiction without permission. He was also asked to provide his mobile number to the court and inform it of any changes.

Bhadra's lawyer argued that his client had been in custody for over a year-and-a-half, with no prospects of a trial starting soon. The ED opposed the bail application, highlighting that Bhadra had only spent 266 days in judicial custody, as he had been hospitalised for the remainder of the time. Justice Ghosh clarified that the time spent in the hospital would be considered part of his judicial custody.

The case originated from a CBI probe into alleged irregularities in the recruitment process for assistant teachers in primary schools, which led the ED to initiate its own probe under the PMLA.

Claiming that the involvement of the petitioner in the offence surfaced from disclosures made by other accused persons in the case, the ED's lawyer submitted that immovable property valued at Rs 8.1 crore have been seized from the petitioner.

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