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New Delhi, December 2 (IANS): The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the hearing on the bail plea of former West Bengal Education Minister Partha Chatterjee in connection with the money laundering case related to the alleged job scam involving school fees.
A bench, headed by Justice Surya Kant, decided to postpone the hearing to review Chatterjee’s custody period in the ED and the CBI case.
According to the automated case status displayed on the Apex Court’s website, the case is tentatively listed for hearing on December 4.
During the previous hearing, the bench, also comprising Justice Ujjal Bhuyan, hinted at granting relief to Chatterjee and expressed concern over the delay in the commencement of the trial.
While questioning the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on how long Chatterjee can stay behind bars, the Justice Kant-led Bench had asked, “How long can we keep him behind bars? This is a case where more than 2 years have passed. If he (Chatterjee) is not convicted in the end, what will happen?”
The report had also pointed out the low conviction rate in the cases filed by the ED under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
In response, Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, appearing for the ED, had highlighted that there were serious allegations of corruption against the former West Bengal minister as jobs were offered to undeserving candidates after receiving bribes.
ASG Raju added that Partha Chatterjee was under CBI custody in connection with the predicate offense and if released on bail, he will influence the witnesses to withdraw their statements.
On the other hand, senior advocate Mukul Rohtagi, appearing on behalf of Chatterjee, had argued that the former minister had been in custody for over two years and the trial was not likely to be concluded early.
Rohtagi, instructed by advocate Misha Rastogi, also raised suspicion over the time of arrest by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and said Chatterjee was arrested after two years of registration of the FIR, when his bail application in the ED case was pending of the statement. the highest court.
Thereafter, the top court had asked ASG Raju to inform him about the period of custody Chatterjee had undergone in the ED as well as the CBI case.
The top court had on October 1 issued notice to the ED and asked the federal anti-money laundering agency to file a reply within two weeks.
Earlier, the Calcutta High Court had rejected Chatterjee’s bail plea. After being denied bail several times by the lower court, Chatterjee approached the high court arguing that he had no connection with the huge amount of cash recovered from his close aide Arpita Mukherjee’s residence and that he should be granted bail . The ED had recovered huge amounts of cash and gold from Mukherjee’s twin residences in July 2022, which the latter claimed were kept there by Chatterjee.
During the course of the investigation, the ED has also seized some properties in the form of plots or residential houses owned indirectly or jointly by the Trinamool Congress leader and his close associates and family members.
Chatterjee was arrested by police from his residence in July 2022. Since then, after the initial days of central agency custody, his address was a cell in the Presidency Central Correctional Home in south Kolkata.
Two weeks ago, the Calcutta High Court delivered a split verdict on Chatterjee’s bail plea in the corruption case registered by the CBI against him in the same alleged multi-crore cash-for-school job scam. While Justice Arijit Bandopadhyay ruled in favor of bail for Chatterjee and eight others accused in the case, Justice Apurba Sinha Roy rejected bail for Chatterjee and four others. However, the bail applications of four persons were allowed by both Justice Bandopadhyay and Justice Sinha Roy.
The division bench directed that the matter be referred to Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam. Last week, it was announced that a single judge judge Tapabrata Chakraborty will hear the case, including Chatterjee’s bail plea.
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