Trinamul Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee on Friday hailed the Supreme Court's directive to reassign cases related to alleged irregularities in school recruitments from Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay of Calcutta High Court and hoped that justice would be delivered in the days to come.

“Since the matter is sub judice, I would not like to comment on this, although I myself was the petitioner in this case,” Abhishek said in Jalpaiguri district.

“The Supreme Court is the apex court of the country and we truly appreciate and accept the verdict given by the Chief Justice of India. We believe that in the coming days, people will get timely justice,” said the Diamond Harbour MP, who expressed hope that corruption allegations against his party would be probed transparently and impartially.

Abhishek asserted that if anyone in Trinamul was found guilty, he/she would not be spared punishment.

Justice Gangopadhyay frequently referred to Abhishek during hearings on corruption cases and mentioned his name in an interview with ABP Ananda in September 2022. A Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud cited the interview while transferring the "corruption" cases from Justice Gangopadhyay on Friday.

With several adverse judgments from Calcutta High Court in the past year, chief minister Mamata Banerjee did mention more than once that the Supreme Court is the last resort that people in the nation could turn to for justice.

“In the past 24 months, there have been a total of 26 CBI cases in Bengal. If you look closely, this has been done by a few particular judges, and not all of them,” Abhishek said on Friday.

Bringing up Calcutta High Court’s decision Thursday to hand over the probe into the violence in three pockets of the state around Ram Navami to the National Investigation Agency, Abhishek said the affiliation of the perpetrators was there for all to see.

“BJP workers were clearly seen carrying party flags and guns during the (Ram Navami) processions. Thus, initiating an NIA probe can be a step to protect the actual culprits. The BJP doesn’t want these culprits to get the punishment they deserve,” he said.

Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar said the Supreme Court's verdict on Friday was "unfortunate".

"The people of Bengal were looking forward to the fight against corruption that the Honourable Justice Gangopadhyay had started. But we will have to abide by the verdict of the Supreme Court,” he said.

“The people of Bengal will always remember Justice Gangopadhyay’s crusade,” Majumdar added, advising Trinamul leaders against heaving a sigh of relief.

“Delivery of justice does not depend upon the person hearing the case. Leaders of the ruling party have committed crimes and they will have to go to jail.”

The Congress’s leader in the Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, too, commended the judge’s role against corruption.

“Even if the cases are transferred to a different bench, Justice Gangopadhyay’s fight should not be forgotten. The way he was working had given hope to many in despair, that it is still possible to get justice in this state,” said the Behrampore MP.

CPM central committee member Sujan Chakraborty said he did not have anything to say about what the Supreme Court had said.

“I can see that thieves who stole jobs are very happy and those who were fighting for their rights are very sad,” said Chakraborty.

“Nobody involved in corruption will be spared, and the movement against it will be intensified. This was organised crime, and everyone involved will have to face the consequences,” he added.