No action against Aditi, Debraj in assets case till June 19

Kolkata: Calcutta High Court on Friday verbally requested the state not to take any action against former Trinamool MLA of Rajarhat-Gopalpur Aditi Munshi and her husband and BMC councillor Debraj Chakraborty in an assets case till June 19. The HC also ordered interim protection to BMC mayor-in-council Tulsi Sinha Roy till June 22 in a different case.The IO has been directed to file a comprehensive report on June 19, when the matter will be next heard by Justice Jay Sengupta.The state, represented by additional advocate general Rajdeep Mazumder, opposed the couple's anticipatory bail plea, saying that they amassed properties worth way more than their disclosed income source.To avoid disclosing the same and "give a cleaner affidavit of assets for elections", they allegedly disposed of properties by way of benami transactions, gifts and devaluing properties, he added. "It's an economic offence requiring further investigation," Mazumder submitted.A complaint was filed against the couple claiming that with an income of Rs 40 lakh and Rs 66 lakh, they amassed properties worth Rs 100 crore in the last five years.The couple, represented by senior advocate Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya, argued that though the complaint was filed before elections, the FIR was registered after the results. "It is not illegal to transfer property. There is no case made out for organised crime because there is no allegation that there was any extortion or land grabbing," he submitted. The Income Tax authorities can take action for non-disclosure of income, Bhattacharyya said.Roy had sought anticipatory bail after an FIR was lodged against her on May 19 alleging extortion on hawkers. The matter will be heard next on June 15.