A court in Kolkata on Friday remanded former Trinamool Congress leader Partha Chatterjee and his aide, Aprita Mukherjee, in judicial custody till August 18 in connection with the School Service Commission recruitment scam.
The Enforcement Directorate had arrested them on July 23, and they have been in the custody of the agency since then.
The court, while rejecting the bail plea of the accused, allowed the ED’s prayer to question them while they will remain in a correctional home till August 18.
There were elaborate arguments in the court by the counsels representing the accused and the ED.
The ED, in its argument, said Mr. Chatterjee was an influential person and granting bail to him would hamper the ongoing investigation. The lawyers for the agency said that evidence of various companies and trusts of Mr. Chatterjee and Ms. Mukherjee had surfaced during the probe.
The agency also urged the court that protection of Ms. Mukherjee, who is key to the case, must be ensured by the correctional home authorities.
Mr. Chatterjee said he had been stripped of his ministerial and party responsibilities and was an ordinary person now. His counsel, wile pointing out that no money had been recovered from Mr. Chatterjee, suggested that he may also resign from the West Bengal Assembly. Nearly ₹50 crore in cash and several kilograms of gold were seized on July 22 and July 28 from two properties of Ms. Mukherjee.
Mr. Chatterjee, who held several ministerial portfolios in the West Bengal government and was secretary general of the Trinamool Congress, was stripped of all posts on July 28.
The SSC recruitment scam involves giving jobs in State-run schools for monetary and political considerations and was brought to fore by several orders of the Calcutta High Court, in which investigation by Central agencies was directed. According to the ED sources, Mr. Chatterjee had not been cooperating with the agency. Ms. Mukherjee on Friday told reporter that she had told “everything to ED”.
CBI summons another TMC leader
In another development, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has summoned heavyweight Trinamool leader Anubrata Mondal in connection with a cattle smuggling scam.
He has been asked to appear before the agency in its Kolkata office on August 8. Mr. Mondal, who holds the post of Birbhum district president of the party, was questioned on May 19 in connection with the scam. The Trinamool leader had fallen ill during the questioning.
