Calcutta HC fines superintendent of presidency jail for helping coal scam accused

The Calcutta High Court has fined the Calcutta Presidency Correctional Institution Superintendent for special treatment in the release of Vikash Mishra, the key accused in the coal smuggling case.

A bench of Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Ajay Kumar Gupta on Thursday ordered jail superintendent Debasishi Chakraborty to deposit ₹2,000 within 48 hours, failing which he would be jailed for one week. The court ruled that Chakraborty had allowed Vikash Mishra, a key accused in the coal smuggling case, to stay at SSKM City Hospital in August 2022, even though he was to be taken to judicial custody from the hospital after doctors deployed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) found him fit.

"The superintendent willfully and disobeyed the court order," the bench observed. Accused Vikash is the younger brother of former Trinamool Congress (TMC) youth wing general secretary Vinay Mishra, who is also the prime accused in the coal smuggling case and is believed to be living in Vanuatu, an island nation in the South Pacific.

Vinay Mishra, who was declared an absconder by the CBI, informed the Calcutta High Court in 2021 through his lawyers that he had renounced his Indian citizenship in November 2020.

The court found Chakraborty guilty of contempt of court, although Kishore Dutta, the public prosecutor, maintained that he did nothing intentionally, lawyers who were present at the hearing said. The case against Chakraborty was filed by the CBI. Justice Bagchi rejected the apology offered by Chakraborty and reprimanded the officer.

“How can a warden who breaks the law show the incarcerated prisoners the right way? It is unfortunate that an officer of his rank would do such a thing,” the judge observed.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED), which is conducting a parallel investigation into the coal smuggling operation, arrested Vikas in Delhi in March 2021 and seized his assets. In August 2021, the ED filed its first chargesheet in the coal smuggling case in a special court in Delhi, naming Vikas and a former Bankura police station officer, Ashok Mishra.

It is alleged that illegally mined coal worth several thousand crores of rupees was sold in the black market over several years by a racket operating in the western parts of Bengal, where Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL) operates several mines.

TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, his wife and her relatives have been questioned by the ED and CBI in connection with the case.