School jobs scam: No one will be spared, wait until right time, says Partha Chatterjee

The special court, meanwhile, extended the judicial remand of Partha Chatterjee and his associate, Arpita Mukherjee, by 14 more days in connection with the ongoing probe into school jobs scam.

After being in ED custody till August 5 following their arrest on July 23, Chatterjee and Mukherjee had been sent to judicial remand by the PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) court here. Partha is lodged at Alipore Presidency Correctional Home while Arpita is in Alipore Women’s Correctional Facility.

Rejecting a bail prayer of the former minister, Judge Jibon Kumar Sadhu granted 14 days’ judicial remand of the two accused on a prayer by the ED till August 31. On a prayer by the central investigating agency, the court granted permission to the ED to further interrogate them in the correctional homes they are lodged in. Mukherjee did not make any bail prayer before the court on Thursday. ED’s counsel in their submission claimed that Partha Chatterjee was not cooperating in the investigation. According to ED, nearly thirty shell companies and sixty bank accounts are under their scanner at the moment.

According to the ED, a trust was found in the name of Partha’s wife Babli Chattopadhyay. ED’s lawyer told the court that the trust also runs a school. The ED also claimed that money was laundered through this trust.

The ED has claimed to have recovered Rs 49.8 crore, jewellery and gold bars from flats owned by Mukherjee and documents of properties and a company in joint holdings. Chatterjee has been relieved of his ministerial duties by the Mamata Banerjee government, while the Trinamool Congress has also removed him from all posts he held in the party following his arrest.

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Claiming that 70-year-old Chatterjee suffers from chronic illnesses and needs active medical intervention, his lawyer prayed for his bail on any condition. The public prosecutor appearing for the ED claimed that Chatterjee and Mukherjee are involved in a criminal conspiracy for illegally giving jobs for the post of teachers and money recovered from her flats were proceeds of crime.

He also claimed that seized documents reveal a close association of Mukherjee with family members of the former minister through a company named Ananta Texfab Pvt Ltd and the address of it is a flat at Belghoria in the northern outskirts of Kolkata, from where cash amounting to Rs 27.90 crore was seized.

— With PTI Inputs