SC to Speak to Wife of IPS Officer Who Blamed Mamata for Suicide

File image of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

(Photo: PTI)

The Supreme Court on Thursday, 9 May, said it would like to interact with the wife of Gaurav Chandra Dutt, IPS officer who had allegedly killed himself in February blaming West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for his death, to know the reason for withdrawal of her plea seeking probe.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi asked petitioner Sreyashi Dutt, who has sought to withdraw her plea seeking investigation in the matter, to appear before the apex court on any day in July as per her convenience.

“Before granting liberty to the petitioner to withdraw this writ petition, this court would like to interact with the petitioner to know the reason for such withdrawal. The petitioner to appear before this court on any day in the month of July 2019 as may be convenient to her,” said the bench, also comprising Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna.

"The said date be intimated to the Secretary General by the counsel, whereafter the matter will be posted before the bench on such date," the bench said.

On 15 March, the top court had said it was not passing any order on the request for withdrawal of the plea and had directed the matter to be listed after two weeks.

The retired 1986-batch IPS officer had blamed West Bengal Chief Minister for his death, a charge dismissed by the state’s ruling Trinamool Congress as “baseless”.

In a six-page letter to the chief minister, Dutt, who retired earlier this year, had accused her of abetting his suicide by keeping him "compulsory waiting" for posting.

The officer was suspended for nine months in 2010 for "conduct unbecoming of an officer" after a constable's wife accused him of torturing her husband.

He had also faced disciplinary action in 2012 over alleged financial irregularities.