On Thursday, October 12, the Calcutta High Court (HC) issued a directive for the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to conduct an investigation into Sunanda Goenka, Principal of Jogesh Chandra Chaudhuri Law College in Kolkata, reports IANS. The allegations involve the use of forged documents to secure a teaching position.
According to the report, previously, the case had been under the purview of the anti-fraud section of the Kolkata Police.
Nonetheless, Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay, presiding over a single-judge bench, expressed dissatisfaction with the progress made by the anti-fraud section and subsequently, transferred the case to the state police CID.
The CID was also granted the authority to interrogate Goenka and, if necessary, take her into custody, states the report. Further, CID was directed to submit a preliminary report by October 18.
Despite calls for a CBI probe, Justice Gangopadhyay rejected this request.
“This is a local matter involving one college and hence, the CID of the state police is fit enough to carry out the investigation,” he observed.
The investigation into Goenka began in 2018 when a former member of the law college's governing board accused her of submitting forged documents and involvement in financial irregularities. The Charu Market police station initiated the investigation with an FIR in November 2019, later transferring the case to the city police's anti-fraud section.
Justice Gangopadhyay had recently ordered Goenka's removal from her position as the college's principal.
However, a division bench comprising Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty and Justice Rai Chattopadhyay stayed this order on Wednesday, October 11.
The division bench also stipulated that Goenka must provide her credentials exclusively to Justice Gangopadhyay's single-judge bench, and that bench will continue to preside over the matter.
