Calcutta HC sets aside arrest warrant against BJP’s Mukul Roy

Kolkata, Aug 7 (IANS) The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday set aside an arrest warrant issued against West Bengal BJP leader Mukul Roy in connection with a case of cheating and extortion.

The arrest warrant was issued by the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Kolkata in a city court on July 29 on a prayer by the Kolkata Police that Roy was allegedly not cooperating with them in an investigation into the recovery of a large amount of unaccounted cash worth Rs 19 lakh from a person in Burrabazar last year.

On Wednesday, the High Court set aside the warrant after Roy's counsel Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya said that his client has already been quizzed by police at his Delhi residence which makes the allegation of non-cooperation against him baseless.

The High Court also directed that the original proceedings related to the alleged recovery of unaccounted cash will continue before the city court.

The Burrabazar police station of the city police division had earlier issued a notice under CrPC section 160 to the BJP leader to appear for interrogation as his name was found in the phone of one of the arrested persons in the case.

However, Roy had refused to appear before the Kolkata Police stating he is a resident of Delhi and moved Delhi High Court challenging the notice.

The court had granted Roy protection from coercive action for 10 days but asked him to join the investigation in the case and be available for questioning in Delhi.

Following the court order, a team of Kolkata Police interrogated Roy at his Delhi residence on August 2.