Kolkata, Mar 24, 2025, IANS

Kolkata, March 24 (IANS) A division bench of the Calcutta High Court, on Monday, extended the interim bail period for Sujay Krishna Bhadra, one of the prime accused in the cash-for-school job case in West Bengal, till April 22. On March 21, Bhadra approached the division bench of Justice Arjit Banerjee and Justice Apurba Sinha Roy for an extension of the current interim bail, which is set to expire on March 31. The same division bench, in February this year, had granted Bhadra the interim bail on medical grounds. The matter of Bhadra’s plea for an extension of the interim bail period came up for hearing at the division bench on Monday and at the end of the hearing, the said bench extended the same till April 22. The next date of hearing in the matter has been fixed on April 21, when it will be decided whether the interim bail period will be extended beyond April 22 or not. At the same time, the division bench also directed the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) personnel to keep a watch outside his residence, and for that purpose, temporary shelters have to be constructed, with adequate seating and resting arrangements. The division bench also observed that the temporary shelters for the CAPF personnel should also be provided with sufficient cooling facilities like fans. The direction by the division bench in the matter was following the complaint by Bhadra’s counsel that the CAPF personnel had been occupying the rooms within the residence of his clients, using the residential toilets indiscriminately, and keeping the air-conditioned machines switched on for long hours. In the counter-argument, the counsel for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) argued that to keep Bhadra under monitoring the CAPF personnel needed to have a roof on their heads and that is why they were in his house. Thereafter the division bench directed the construction of temporary shelters for the CAPF personnel outside Bhadra’s residence. The division bench also said the Bhadra’s doctors and relatives should be given free access to his residence and at the same time one staff of the bank branch where he has an account should be allowed to meet him.