Kolkata, Sep 15 The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday granted six-month interim protection from coercive action to TMC's Lok Sabha MP Kirti Azad in an alleged 2025 extortion case.
The court directed Azad to cooperate with the CID probe in the case and asked him to appear before the state investigating agency at its headquarters on September 22.
Granting interim protection to Azad for six months, Justice Kausik Chanda directed the CID to give him seven days' prior notice for questioning him in connection with the case in future.
The court directed that the matter will come up for hearing again in January 2027.
The complainant, who said he is a businessman, alleged that he had been called to a house and a man who claimed to be an associate of the Bardhaman-Durgapur MP had demanded money from him.
Azad, claiming he had no knowledge of any such incident, stated before the court that he was in Durgapur on the date of the alleged incident in May, 2025 and submitted travel documents in support of his claim.
The MP prayed for the FIR against him to be quashed, claiming a false case with fabricated allegations had been lodged.
Azad's lawyer stated before the court that he was being targeted for raising coal smuggling issues in the Asansol region of West Bengal.
