Prithvijoy Das And ANR. v. Union Of India And ORS.

21.08.2023 Item No.06 Ct. No.1 PG/AGM W.P.A.(P) 428 of 2023 Prithvijoy Das & Anr.

Vs.

Union of India & Ors.

Mr. Prithvijoy Das..........petitioner (in person) Mr. Sayan Sachin Basu Mr. Ranit Mukherjee Ms. Bulbul Biswas Mr. Venkateshwar Prasad....for the petitioners Mr. Ashok Kumar Chakraborty, Ld. ASG Mr. Arijit Majumdar......for the Union of India Mr. Saptanshu Basu, Sr. Adv.

Mr. Joy Saha, Sr. Adv.

Mr. Tapas Kr. Mondal Mr. Subroto Sardar Mr. Avik Ghatak Mr. Aneek Pandit Mr. Chandranath Sarkar Mr. Sumitava Chakraborty Ms. Sonakshi Mitra Mr. Dhruva Das Mr. Avijit Kundu Mr. Rittik Mondal Mr. Ankan Das Mr. Ali Rizvi Mr. Surajit Majumdar Mr. Abhinav Rakshit........for the respondent no. 3

1. The petitioners, by filing this public interest litigation seek for a direction upon the Enforcement Directorate, the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Income Tax Department to conduct an independent inquiry against the 3rd respondent within a time bound manner.

2. The petitioners have submitted representation to the authorities and sought for the aforementioned prayers.

3. Basically the allegations are against the 3rd respondent, which has a criminal flavour.

4. In such circumstances, the petitioners cannot bypass the remedy provided under the Code of Criminal Procedure and straight away file a writ petition as a public interest litigation and seek for a direction upon the authorities.

5. Thus, we are of the view that the petitioners, if aggrieved by any action of the 3rd respondent should first exhaust the legal remedies available under the Code of Criminal Procedure and thereafter take the matter to the logical end.

6. With the above observations, the writ petition is disposed of.

7. No costs.

8. Urgent photostat certified copy of this order, if applied for, be furnished to the parties expeditiously upon compliance of all legal formalities.

(T. S. SIVAGNANAM) CHIEF JUSTICE (HIRANMAY BHATTACHARYYA, J.)