ED arrests Bajoria

Bajoria (53), who was interrogated by ED officials on Friday, was arrested around noon. He was kept under guard at the nursing home while counsel for the ED, Debu Roychowdhury, petitioned the Sessions Court for permission to shift him to a police jail.

However, Bishtu Charan Ghosh, counsel for Bajoria, submitted that judicial custody does not always mean that an accused has to be in police jail."It does not matter whether the accused is in jail because whether he is at his house orhospital, it is tantamount to judicial custody. Considering the poor health of my client, the accused should not be placed in jail custody," Ghosh said.

Bajoria’s counsel also noted that Ashok Jain, the principal accused in the case, was allowed recently by the Supreme Court to go overseas for medical treatment. Bajoria’s counsel also moved an application for bail saying that the jute baron has been already interrogated by the ED on 28 occasions adding up to over 90 hours in the one month or so since he has been in the nursing home. The Supreme Court turned down Bajoria’s bail plea on November 28, 1997. On January 31 this year, he got himself admitted to the nursing home. ED’s counsel, Roychowdhury, urged the court to deny bail pleas on the ground Bajoria’s movements were not above suspicion.

"Once his bail application was rejected by the Supreme Court, he absconded. Moreover, there are no categorical statements regarding his heart diseases. In such a situation, he should not be granted bail,"Roychowdhury said.The chief judicial magistrate ruled that Bajoria should not be moved from the nursing home. However, he pointed out that the grounds for his arrest have not been explicably mentioned by the ED’s lawyers.

"Bajoria is taken into judicial custody and shall be produced at the appropriate court after consultations with the doctors regarding his health," Maity noted.