Kolkata : A PIL was Friday filed in the Calcutta High Court seeking the disqualification of West Bengal Transport and Sports Minister Madan Mitra who is behind bars for his alleged complicity in the multi-crore rupee Saradha scam.
The petition has been filed by Subhrojit Bhaduri before the bench of Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice A. K. Banerjee contending that Mitra be disqualified as a minister as he can’t discharge his ministerial responsibilities from jail.
“As a minister, Mitra had taken an oath of serving the people by discharging his ministerial duties and responsibilities. Since now he is in jail and can’t discharge his responsibilities so we have approached the court seeking his removal,” he said.
Bhaduri had earlier written to Governor K.N. Tripathi seeking the removal of Mitra who was arrested by the CBI Dec 12 for alleged conspiracy, cheating and misappropriation as well as deriving undue financial benefits from the Saradha Group.
Mitra is now in judicial custody after a court during the day extended his remand till Jan 30.
“We had written to the governor Jan 9 but haven’t received any response so far. So, we have moved the court. Beside the state government, the Election Commission and Mitra have been made parties in the petition. The petition has been admitted and is likely to come up for hearing next week,” added Bhaduri.