Warrant against BJP jr home min in two 13-yr-old jewellery thefts

Jalpaiguri: A court in north Bengal's Alipurduar has issued an arrest warrant against Union junior home minister Nisith Pramanik for two jewellery store thefts 13 years ago.
Lawyers on Tuesday confirmed that the warrant against Pramanik was issued on Friday after he didn't respond to a summons. Pramanik will challenge the matter in court, they told TOI.
"Two specific cases were started against Nisith Pramanik and others for thefts in two jewellery shops in 2009," said public prosecutor Jahar Mazumdar."The cases were shifted to Barasat court. These were again transferred to Alipurduar court recently. The hearing of these cases were on Friday at the judicial magistrate's court. But no lawyer stood up for Pramanik and the court issued a warrant against him," he added.
The next date of hearing is December 7. The court has passed an order to police to execute the arrest warrant and produce Pramanik in court on that date. "If the police fail to produce Pramanik on December 7, they will have to explain their inaction in court," Mazumdar said.
Pramanik refused comment on the issue. His lawyer Dulal Ghosh, however, claimed that he had been at the court till 4.30pm on Friday. " I came to know later that the judicial magistrate's court (third court) issued a warrant against the minister. From what we know, these cases had been assigned to the first court. We will move a higher court challenging the order," Ghosh said.