Calcutta HC grants conditional permission to Kunal Ghosh to travel abroad

Kolkata, Sep 8 (IANS) The Calcutta High Court on Monday granted a conditional nod to Trinamool Congress's West Bengal General Secretary, Kunal Ghosh, to travel abroad.

Ayan Chakraborty, the counsel of Ghosh, approached the Calcutta High Court recently seeking permission for his client to visit the UK and Ireland to attend cultural functions there.

The matter came up for hearing on Monday, and during the course of the hearing, Chakraborty argued that his client always followed the rulebook, and he did that previously, even when he went abroad with court permission.

The single-judge bench of Justice Suvra Ghosh accepted the arguments of Ghosh’s counsel and permitted the Trinamool leader to visit abroad. However, Ghosh would have to deposit an amount of Rs 5 lakh in the court before going abroad, which he would have to be refunded after he returned.

Ghosh is currently on bail, after he was arrested in connection with the multi-crore Saradha Chit Fund Scam in 2013. He was released from jail in October 2016 on bail after almost three years in jail. He has reportedly returned Rs 2.67 crore that he earned from Saradha Group as salary and for advertisements paid to him by the group while he worked for the media company of the chit fund entity.

However, even after he was released on bail, he had to keep his passport deposited at Calcutta High Court, and that is why he needed to approach the court for permission every time before visiting abroad.

Earlier this year, he accompanied Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee during the latter’s trip to London to give a lecture at a college there. At that point in time, Ghosh approached the Calcutta High Court for permission, which was granted to him.

The judge then allowed him to go abroad by depositing Rs 5 lakh.

--IANS

src/vd