A Tripura court on Tuesday extended for three days the judicial custody of former Minister Badal Choudhury accused in the 2008 PWD scam. The special judge ordered the police to produce the CPI(M) leader in court on December 20 to decide on his bail application. The sessions court had earlier rejected the bail pleas of Mr. Choudhury, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, on a number of occasions since his arrest for his alleged involvement in the ₹640-crore PWD scam of 2008.
The High Court had also refused to release him on bail, but dropped two Sections (418 and 420) from the FIR against him.
The Crime Branch arrested Mr. Choudhury and two former PWD Chief Engineers in the scam. It however failed to nab a key accused, former Chief Secretary Y.P. Singh, who was the Principal Secretary in charge of PWD in 2008.
Mr. Choudhury, CPI(M) central committee member, refuted the charges and termed them politically motivated. “Political conspiracy against me and my party will never succeed,” he told newsmen on court premises on Tuesday.
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