Calcutta High Court on Monday ordered CBI probe into alleged extortion of truckers at Haldia Port and observed that “syndicates” have a stranglehold on most businesses and commerce in the state.
Hearing a petition by a co-accused in the case for transfer of the case to CBI, the court stayed the investigation by the state police.
It ordered the release of petitioner Rajib Paul from custody with the rider that he will not leave Haldia town.
“The CBI shall collect all the case material including case diary and all evidence from the Haldia police and commence investigation,” Justice Rajasekhar Mantha ordered.
Directing that the final report will not be filed by CBI without the leave of this court, Justice Mantha ordered that the matter be listed for further hearing after six weeks, following filing of affidavits by the state and the petitioner.
Noting that the FIR was lodged at the Haldia police station in West Bengal’s Purba Medinipur district in July 2021 though the incident took place some time in 2018 as alleged in the FIR, Justice Mantha said that the delay is “curiously stark and blatant”.
Observing that the crime in the form of extortion by “syndicate” (mafia) operations was going on unabated since 2018 if not earlier, the court said “Such syndicates operate in every nook and corner of the State.” The court said that the selective cognisance in this case and the delay of two and half years in lodging of the FIR and its timing, particularly after the Assembly poll in 2021, throws up serious questions regarding the motives behind the probe.
“Syndicates have a stranglehold on most businesses and commerce in the state, be it in the trade of construction material or as in the instant case – the loading and unloading of cargo moving in and out of the Haldia Port,” the court observed.
Refusing the government pleader’s prayer that instead of CBI, a special investigation team may be entrusted with the investigation, the court said that this cannot be acceded to because Haldia Port attracts traffic from many countries and has a huge hinterland comprising many states in eastern India.
On July 12, 2021, a extortion case was registered at Haldia police station in which a person named Shyamal Adak was named the principal petitioner and Paul the co-accused.
Complainant Sk Mobarak Ali had alleged that sometime in 2018 Adak used to extort Rs 100 per truck to allow loading of coal at the Haldia Dock complex.
Source : The Print
