Kolkata, April 8 – Sudipta Sen, the owner of the Saradha chit fund company, is set to be released from judicial custody on Thursday after being granted bail in all the corruption cases against him.
He has been in judicial custody for 12 years and 11 months.
He is currently held at the Presidency Correctional Home in Kolkata, West Bengal.
The division bench of Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj of the Calcutta High Court announced the judgment on Wednesday and granted him bail in two pending cases with the state police.
As a result, there are no legal obstacles to Sen's release from judicial custody.
However, the court has imposed several conditions on Sen's bail.
Sudipta Sen, the main accused in the Saradha chit fund scam in the state, is likely to be released from jail on Thursday.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had filed 76 cases against Sen.
Sen had already been granted bail in all the cases registered by the central investigating agencies.
Currently, he is only in judicial custody in two cases of the Barasat police station.
The division bench of Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj granted bail to Sen in both these cases.
Incidentally, on Tuesday, the Calcutta High Court reprimanded the state in the bail case of Sen.
The CBI was also reprimanded by the high court, following which the high court reserved its judgment.
The lawyer for the plaintiff told the court that 389 cases were filed against Sudipta Sen.
Sen was first arrested on April 27, 2013, in a case filed by the Bidhannagar police station. Later, the CBI took up the chit fund investigation in 76 of such cases and subsequently filed four cases.
The state police filed charge sheets against Sen in the remaining cases.
Sen had been granted bail in those four cases, for which he submitted a bail bond.
However, of the 309 cases in the hands of the state police, two were still pending.
Two cases of the Barasat police station were pending against Sen.
When the case was taken up in the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday, Sen was granted bail in all the cases.
Regarding Sen's bail, Kunal Ghosh, the Trinamool Congress candidate from the Beleghata Assembly constituency, said, "Whether someone gets bail or not is a matter of law and court. Getting bail is within the law. Sudipta Sen had applied for bail. The court has granted that application, so there is no separate explanation or comment on it for now."
Incidentally, after the Saradha chit fund scam came to light in 2013, the head of the company, Sudipta Sen, took his associate Debjani to Sonmarg in Kashmir.
They were arrested from Kashmir that year.
Since then, both have been in judicial custody.
However, in 2023, Debjani was released on parole for a few hours.