TMC's Kunal Ghosh guilty of attempt to commit suicide in jail in 2014

The TMC had sent Kunal Ghosh who was then the chief of Saradha Media, a company of the chit fund group, to the Rajya Sabha but suspended him after a fallout in 2013

An MP/MLA court in Kolkata on Friday found Trinamool Congress State General Secretary Kunal Ghosh guilty of an attempt to commit suicide eight years ago when he was lodged at a correctional home in connection with the Saradha chit fund scam case.

The court, however, did not impose any punishment on the TMC spokesperson for the offence.

During a court production on November 10, 2014, Ghosh who was then a Rajya Sabha MP suspended by the TMC had threatened to commit suicide if the CBI did not take action against those he claimed were really involved in the multi-crore scam.

Three days later, he consumed sleeping pills in Presidency Correctional Home and was treated at the state-run SSKM Hospital.

The correctional home authorities filed an FIR against Ghosh on the charge of attempting to commit suicide under Section 309 of the IPC, which invites simple imprisonment for a term up to one year or fine if proved.

The MP/MLA court judge Manojyoti Bhattacharyya found Ghosh, a journalist turned politician, guilty but released him after an admonition.

Citing a Supreme Court judgement that sentence of imprisonment or fine is not compulsory but discretionary in such cases, the judge said that considering the circumstances, age, conduct and status of Ghosh, it is a fit case where, instead of sentencing the accused to any punishment, he should be released after due admonition.