Tripura HC hears quashing petition of ex-minister in PWD scam

The High Court of Tripura on Tuesday heard the quashing petition of senior CPI(M) leader Badal Chowdhury who was accused of being involved in a Rs 630 crore scam that allegedly took place during his tenure as the PWD minister during the Left Front rule in the state.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Akil Abdulhamid Kureshi and Justice Arindam Lodh has posted the matter for next hearing on December 2.

Appearing for Chowdhury, a central committee member of the CPI(M), senior advocate of Calcutta High Court Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharjee submitted that the FIR against his client should be quashed as the charges were not corroborated by documentary evidence.

After the arguments of Bhattacharjee, the chief justice asked Advocate General Arun Kanti Bhowmik, who was representing the state government, to submit some relevant papers.

Bhowmick said he would submit all the documents to the court on the next date.

Chowdhury, currently in jail custody but hospitalised due to his ill health, would be produced on Wednesday in a district court for hearing of his bail petition.

The BJP-led Tripura government has claimed that the erstwhile CPI(M)-led regime had sought to construct 28 buildings, 46 bridges and 60 roads in 2008-09, but a portion of those works have still not been completed.

The PWD scam took place as Chowdhury flouted a number of rules to create some packages by clubbing several of those projects and awarded them to some specific contractors, the government claimed.

Chowdhury who was the PWD minister during the Left Front regime, was arrested on October 21 from a private hospital where he was admitted.

The CPI(M) Politburo has claimed that Chowdhury was apprehended on false charges and said the party would fight the case against him both legally and politically.

Former PWD engineer-in-chief Sunil Bhowmik was taken into custody while an arrest warrant was issued against former chief secretary Yashpal Singh in connection with the scam.

An FIR was lodged by the Crime Investigation Department with the West Agartala police station on October 13 in which the agency accused Chowdhury, Bhowmik and Singh of being involved in a financial scam of over Rs 600 crore in PWD projects between 2008 and 2009.

The three have been charged with fraud, corruption, criminal breach of trust and suppression of evidence.