Chief judicial magistrate court in Asansol on Thursday ordered 14 days judicial custody for Trinamul Congress leader and Halisahar municipality chairman Raju Sahani, who was produced after his five days of CBI remand ended on Tuesday.

Although the CBI did not appeal for further remand of Sahani, who had been arrested for his alleged involvement in the Rs 100-crore Ponzi scam on September 1, the agency objected to his bail plea on the ground that Trinamul leader was “influential”.

Sahani’s lawyer Pradip Kar moved bail plea for his client and told the court that the CBI could not establish any link of him (Sahani) with the Ponzi scam.

“My client is a businessman and keeping hefty money at home is not a crime. Moreover, other persons arrested in connection with the case have been released on bail,” Kar told the media outside the court after the order.

CBI lawyer Shibendra Sachan, however, told the court that Sahani was an “influential political person” and could tamper with evidence if he was granted bail.

Moreover, the CBI told the court that they had found a money trail of Sahani

with Sanmarg Cooperative, which a Burdwan-based Ponzi firm.

They also claimed before the court that Sahani received “undue benefits” from the Ponzi firm.

The CBI also told the court that Sahani owned three companies in Thailand, Hong Kong and Bangkok. This, they said, required investigation.

After hearing both sides, the judge remanded Sahani in judicial custody for a fortnight.

DA case

Contempt petitions filed by three unions of state government employees came up for hearing before a Calcutta High Court division bench headed by Justice Harish Tandon on Thursday.

The contempt petitions were filed after the state sought revision of the high court that ordered paying DA to state government employees at par with those of the central government.

Seeing papers and files related to the case reaching the courtroom on right time and high court staff, who are state government employees, in overactive mode in dealing with this particular case, a smiling Justice Tandon quipped: "We want the high court employees should equally active in other cases so that cases could be settled easily."

Additional reporting by Tapas Ghosh