Dispute in Calcutta High Court over whether ED officer used computer at firm linked to Abhishek Banerjee for checking child's hostel details

The Calcutta High Court Monday decided to keep in abeyance its judgment on a plea filed by Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Abhishek Banerjee after a dispute emerged between him and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) over an ED officer using a computer at a firm affiliated to Banerjee. [Abhishek Banerjee vs Enforcement Directorate]..Justice Tirthankar Ghosh had, on August 21, reserved his order on a plea filed by Banerjee challenging the probe against him by the ED in the 'school jobs for cash' scam. The judge was slated to pronounce the judgment on September 5. .However, the ED meanwhile conducted raids at a company, Leaps & Bounds, in which Banerjee is said to be the Chief Executive Officer and a former Director..Through a fresh application, Banerjee claimed that the ED officer, while conducting the probe, downloaded nearly 16 files, which had something to do with the ongoing investigation.However, the ED refuted the allegation saying that no file was downloaded or seized. Rather, the ED claimed that an officer, out of anxiety for his child, was checking the child's hostel accommodation details on the said computer. The ED's counsel told the Court further that the officer used the computer only in presence of the staff of the company. Banerjee, however, argued that no consent or permission was taken from his staff before using the said computer. .Taking note of the submissions, the bench deferred pronouncing its judgment."The delivery of the judgment for the time being is kept in abeyance," the judge said in his order passed on September 2..The Court will now examine which were the files allegedly downloaded from the computer. To this end, the judge ordered Mithilesh Kumar Mishra, the assistant director of the ED, who is also the investigating officer of the case, to co-ordinate with the officer of the Cyber Cell of Kolkata Police. "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," the bench said. The bench has further ordered both officers to remain present when the downloaded copies are handed over. "A representative of CFSL, Kolkata would produce the same before this Court on the next date," the bench ordered, while adjourning the hearing till September 4..Senior Advocate Kishore Datta along with advocates Sanjay Basu, Soumen Mohanty, Ayan Poddar, Piyush Kr Ray, Agnish Basu and Riddhi Jain appeared for Banerjee. Additional Solicitor General SV Raju along with advocates Phiroze Edulji, Samrat Goswami, Zoheb Hossain, Anamika Pandey, Amrita Pandey and Ghanashyam Pandey represented the ED..[Read Order]