CSFL submits preliminary report on 16 personal files downloaded by ED staff during raid to Calcutta HC

Kolkata: The Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) on Wednesday submitted its preliminary report to the Calcutta High Court on the 16 personal files downloaded by an Enforcement Directorate (ED) official during a raid at an office linked to the prime accused in the multi-crore cash for school jobs case, Sujay Krishna Bhadra, last month.

However, it is a preliminary report and the CSFL authorities have sought more time from the single-judge bench of Justice Tirthankar Ghosh to submit a detailed final report.

Justice Ghosh accepted the plea and directed the CFSL to submit the final report by September 12.

On Tuesday, Justice Ghosh had ruled that the 16 personal files cannot be treated as evidence by any state or central investigative agency.

The directive came as a hurdle for the cyber crime division of Kolkata Police which was investigating the matter following a complaint filed by an employee of the said office, claiming that the 16 personal files were downloaded from a computer of the office with the intention of “planting evidence”.

The ED has already given a written explanation to the city police, claiming that the files were inadvertently downloaded by one of his officers while searching for a students’ hostel for his daughter, who recently got admitted to one of the reputed engineering colleges in the state.

The ED also claimed that the files were downloaded inadvertently after the raid was completed, and it was done under CCTV monitoring and in the presence of the employees of the company as well as the independent witnesses present on the spot.

The concerned official has been moved out of the investigation team and transferred to Guwahati.