Gurjant’s truck had rammed a vehicle in the Banerjee’s convoy on August 9 at Kolaghat. Following a complaint by Suvendu Adhikary, the TMC parliamentarian of Tamluk who was also in the convoy, the police had lodged a case of attempt to murder case against him.

After the hearing, Maukh Chaudhury, judge of the CJM Court, remanded Gurjant in judicial custody. He would be produced in court again on August 25.

Manojit Singh, Gurjant’s counsel, pleaded that he was innocent and did not intentionally ram the security vehicle of the convoy. He was a poor truck driver who came from a Punjab village. Singh pleaded that the law did not allow the police to start two cases on a single incident. Initially, the Kolaghat police had registered a case of accident. Later, the attempt to murder case was lodged after Adhikary’s complaint. The court should grant his bail, said Singh. He also asked that the CID produce the case diary in court.

Public prosecutor Safiul Ali Khan argued it was a case of attempt to murder and Mamata Banerjee and Utpal Das Mahapatra, the driver of her vehicle, were injured in the incident. The CID did not have the medical report but the investigating officer was trying to collect it. The CID, he said, has requested Adhikary to make a statement as a witness under Section 161 CrPC. The mechanical and forensic reports of the vehicle were also important and they were not available with the CID, he said. So the remand of Gurjant was required in the interest of the investigation, he argued.