Santanu Chowdhury v. State Of West Bengal

IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA

Criminal Miscellaneous Jurisdiction 10-11-2020 Subrata/Rajib item no.91 rejected .

C.R.M. No.8986 of 2020 Santanu Chowdhury -vsUnion of India In Re: Application under section 439 CrPC in connection with R.C. No. 53/S/2014 arising out of Lake Town P. S. Case No. 102 dated April 14, under sections 406/409/420/511/109/112/114/115/117/ 120B/34 IPC and 4/6 of the Prize Chits and Money Circulation Scheme (Banning) Act, 1978 Md. Younush Mondal ...for the petitioner Mr. Y. J. Dastoor Mr. P. Edulji Mr. S. Goswami ... for the State The petitioner undertakes to affirm and stamp the petition as per the Rules within 48 hours of resumption of normal functioning of the court. The petition is taken up through video-conference on the basis of such undertaking.

The petitioner claims to be in custody for nearly five years and says that since there is no likelihood of the trial being completed in the immediate future, the petitioner should be enlarged on bail. The matter pertains to the chit fund business apparently run by the petitioner. Considering the many lives and families that were destroyed as a result of the spate of chit fund business in the State at one point of time, the petitioner's prayer does not warrant consideration.

The pandemic has impeded normal business being conducted and it has also affected the business of the court. Once the normal functioning resumes, there is no doubt that the trial of the matter would be taken up in right earnest.

The Union of India says that several petitions challenging the proceedings have resulted in the trial not being taken up. Though the present petitioner claims not to be involved in the petitions filed by the other co-accused, the Union says that it is a concerted move by the several accused persons to adopt such measures to delay the commencement of the trial.

CRM No.8986 of 2020 is disposed of.

[Arijit Banerjee, J] [Sanjib Banerjee, J]