HC to pass order on bail plea of Vedic accused

The Calcutta High Court on Monday will pass an order on the bail prayer of Vedic Village land scam accused Raj Kishore Modi, arrested on charges of murder, cheating, forgery and intimidating land owners.

Hearing of Modi's bail prayer was concluded today before a division bench comprising Justices D P Sengupta and S K Chakraborty. Modi's counsel Sekhar Bose submitted that in 2001, when the state government leased out 44 acres of land for setting up of Vedic Village resort, it had entered into an agreement with Modi's company for acquiring land for the IT project.

It was strange as to how the same person has now been branded a land mafia by the same government, Bose told the court. Additional advocate-general Nisith Adhikari submitted that the investigation was in a very early stage and further probe has to be made.

He stated that apart from the three cases in which Modi was in custody, another 13 cases have been registered for which further investigation and interrogation were required. Modi's henchman Gaffar Mollah and four other muscle men, who allegedly used strong-arm tactics to force villagers to part with their land, were arrested few days back.