West Bengal: ‘Paresh Adhikary sent email to CBI seeking time’

KOLKATA: The CBI on Thursday questioned minister of state for education Paresh Adhikary for nearly three hours, 36 hours since he went missing en route to Kolkata from north Bengal after Tuesday’s Calcutta High Court order to appear before the agency in connection with an alleged irregularity in a school job appointment for his daughter.
The minister stepped into Nizam Palace, the city headquarters of the central agency, at 7.30pm and came out after questioning ended at 10.31pm. Earlier in the day, the central agency had lodged an FIR against him and his daughter, Ankita.
The Bidhannagar Police, on the directions of Calcutta High Court, escorted the minister to Nizam Palace from the airport soon after Adhikary touched down on a SpiceJet flight from Bagdogra on Thursday evening. Outside the Bagdogra airport, the minister told reporters that he was headed to Kolkata. He didn’t comment after landing.
‘Paresh sent email to CBI seeking time’
Paresh Adhikary’s return to Kolkata came hours after Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay observed: “If Mr Adhikary is not found in the said flight, which will start from Bagdogra at 17:00 hours, it will be treated as a hoax created to save himself from the court and the CBI. ”
The judge warned that the court would deal with the matter appropriately if there was any violation of the court order. The single-bench directive came a day after Paresh and Ankita went missing from the Sealdah-bound Padatik Express. They had boarded the train soon after the court order on Tuesday.
There was high drama on Thursday, after Justice Gangopadhyay gave a last chance to the minister to appear for CBI questioning at 3pm. Counsel for the minister, Biswarup Bhattacharya, broke the news that Paresh was in Cooch Behar and it was not possible forhim to come to Nizam Palace at the stipulated time.
Paresh was booked under IPC sections 420 (cheating and dishonesty) and 120B (criminal conspiracy), apart from the Prevention of Corruption Act, said sources. CBI sources claimed he had sent an email in the morning, seeking more time to appear for questioning.
Justice Gangopadhyay had directed the minister to make himself available at the CBI office after the court found that Ankita’s name was incorporated into the waiting list for teacher recruitment in 2018, two years after SLST 2016 was published.