HC turns down bail plea of SI in Short Street shootout case

KOLKATA: The Calcutta high court on Thursday turned down a bail application of Noor Ali, sub-inspector of Kolkata Police, who was arrested in December, 2013, for being part of the conspiracy hatched to gain possession of property at 9A, Short Street in the Shakespeare Sarani Police Station area of the city.
The dispute resulted in a shootout at the premises in which two persons were killed.The shootout occurred in the early hours of November 11, 2013 and Mamta Agarwal, who ran a school from the premises was arrested on charges of firing upon trespassers, including the two dead youths, after they stormed the building.
Mamta was later granted bail. During investigations, it came to light that Ali — who was investigating a complaint by Mamta against an alleged previous attempt to forcibly acquire the property — was involved in the racket. He was summoned to the police headquarters in Lalbazar for questioning and then arrested. His bail application was turned down on an earlier date as well.
On Thursday, Ali moved a fresh bail application before a division bench headed by Justice Subhro Kamal Mukherjee through counsel Rajdeep Majumdar. Phiroze Edulji, counsel for Mamta Agarwal, opposed the bail plea on the ground that the accused may influence investigations into the matter and this may have an adverse effect on witnesses. After hearing both sides, the court turned down Ali's bail plea.