Kolkata, March 15,2023: The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday rapped the West Bengal government for delay in probe by Kolkata Police in identifying people who pasted slanderous posters on the walls of residence of Justice Rajasekhar Mantha in Kolkata in January.

A three-judge bench of Justices T S Sivagnanam, Indra Prasanna Mukherjee and Chittaranjan Das also directed that six accused, who have been named in the police report submitted to the court, should be arrested and produced before the court in the next hearing.

“We are not examining the police report right now. Please do not play hide & seek in the name of investigation. We will keep a close watch on the pace of investigation,” Justice Sivagnanam said.

He also directed the state government’s counsel to ensure that there is no attempt to “mislead” the court in the process of investigation.

“The prestige of the institution is involved with the investigation process. I hope that correct information is provided in taking forward the matter. Please give the right names. Ensure that any innocent person is not named,” he said.

The next hearing has been listed for March 27.

The case pertains to slanderous posters pasted in the walls of the residence of Justice Mantha on an early morning of January this year, in which he was accused of being biased in favour of BJP MLA Suvendu Adhikari and against Trinamool Congress’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee and his close relatives.

From the very same day, a section of the lawyers of the Calcutta High Court, known to be confidant of ruling Trinamool Congress, started agitating in front of the court of Justice Mantha and demanding boycott of his bench.

On January 10, Justice Mantha issued a suo motu contempt of court rule. Finally, the matter was referred to the special three-judge bench of Calcutta High Court which was constituted for the purpose.