HC defers appearance of Mukul Roy before investigating officer

The Calcutta High Court on Monday accepted BJP leader Mukul Roy's prayer for deferring his appearance before the investigating officer in a case of cheating and criminal intimidation in which he has been named as a co-accused.

Justice Tirthankar Ghosh accepted Roy's prayer for not appearing before the investigating officer of Kalighat police station in the city on Tuesday and directed him to make himself available for questioning in connection with the case on February 10.

Seeking deferment of the date, Roy's lawyer Subhasish Dasgupta submitted before the court that the BJP leader is busy with the Assembly elections in Delhi and was at present in the national capital.

Complainant Sujit Shyam who is a former aide of Roy, in an FIR filed at Kalighat police station, claimed that he received calls from a mobile number and the caller asserted that he has got documents in a CD which could be damaging for the Trinamool Congress and offered it to him for a sum of Rs 1.5 crore.

Shyam also claimed that the unknown caller, the main accused in the case, had told him that Mukul Roy had earlier shown interest in buying the CD for a higher amount, but had backed out later.

In his complaint, Shyam accused the BJP leader of being behind the telephone calls.

A case of cheating, criminal intimidation and abetment to crime was drawn against Roy on the basis of the FIR at Kalighat police station, Dasgupta said.