Abhishek Banerjee vs The Directorate Of ...
2023 Latest Caselaw 5872 Cal

 Item No.1                C.R.R.2653 of 2023
02.09.2023

With Bpg.

CRAN 1 of 2023

Abhishek Banerjee Versus The Directorate of Enforcement(ED)

Mr. Kishore Datta Mr. Sanjay Basu Mr. Soumen Mohanty Mr. Ayan Poddar Mr. Piyush Kr. Ray Mr. Agnish Basu Ms. Riddhi Jain.

...for the petitioner.

Mr. S.V. Raju, Ld. A.S.G Mr. Phiroze Edulji Mr. Samrat Goswami Mr. Zoheb Hossain Ms. Anamika Pandey Ms. Amrita Pandey Mr. Ghanashyam Pandey.

...for the E.D.

Mr. Arindam Jana Mr. Bikram Banerjee Mr. Sudipta Dasgupta Mr. Arka Nandi.

...for the affected party(Ramesh Malik).

Mr. Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya Mr. Firdous Samim Ms. Gopa Biswas Ms. Payel Shome Ms. Sampriti Saha.

...for the affected party(Soumen Nandy).

Mr. Saswata Gopal Mukherjee, Ld.P.P. Mr. Rudradipta Nandy.

...for the State.

Earlier by an order dated 21.08.2023, the hearing of the

arguments in connection with this case was concluded after written

notes of arguments were submitted on behalf of the petitioner as

well as the Enforcement Directorate and a list of dates was

submitted on behalf of the added party by Mr. Bhattacharya,

learned senior advocate. On the said date, this Court reserved the

judgment and fixed 05.09.2023, as the date for pronouncement of

the judgment. Subsequently, an application was taken out on

behalf of the petitioner claiming that in the interregnum period, a

raid was conducted at an office, namely, "Leaps & Bounds" wherein

the petitioner happens to be the Chief Executive Officer and for a

limited period of time, the petitioner was also a Director.

Mr. Dutta, learned senior advocate who represented the

petitioner in the application being CRAN 1 of 2023 apprehends that

16 files were downloaded which had something to do with the

investigation which is being carried out, while Mr. Raju, learned

ASG appearing for the ED submits that the same had nothing to do

with the search and seizure which was carried out at the said Office

and it is only one of the Officers whose anxiety for his child after the

search and seizure was over, was checking the hostel

accommodation in the computer of the said Company, the hard disc

of which was never seized. Learned ASG further submits that such

use of the computer was in presence of the Officer of the Company.

Mr. Datta, learned senior advocate for the petitioner

submits that the same was not with the consent and knowledge of

the employees or the Officers of the said Company.

In view of the present circumstances, the date fixed for

delivery of the judgment for the time being is kept in abeyance.

In the meantime, the Investigating Officer of the

Enforcement Directorate, namely, Mithilesh Kumar Mishra,

Assistant Director and one of the Inspectors, namely, Mr. Amitava

Sinha Ray, who is attached to the Cyber Police Station, Kolkata will

coordinate amongst themselves and go to the Office of CFSL, New

Town, Kolkata.

Hard copies of the alleged 16 files which are the subject

matter of the present application (as the hard disc of which is

presently lying with the CFSL, Kolkata) be placed before this Court

in the mode and manner which the expert of CFSL thinks fit and

proper.

Both the Officers would be present at the time of receipt

of the downloaded copies at the said Office. A representative of

CFSL, Kolkata would produce the same before this Court on the

next date so fixed.

This order be communicated through the Investigating

Officer of the Enforcement Directorate to the CFSL, Kolkata.

Matter be fixed on 4th September, 2023 at 4.30 p.m.

under the heading "To Be Mentioned".

All parties shall act on the server copy of this order duly

downloaded from the official website of this Court.

(Tirthankar Ghosh, J.)