Kolkata: A special CBI judge on Wednesday warned former West Bengal Education Minister Partha Chatterjee that his bail in the primary teachers recruitment corruption case would be cancelled after he did not appear in person for the hearing in the court.
On Wednesday, the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) primary teachers recruitment case was heard at the special CBI Court. The accused were supposed to be present in the court in person. However, Chatterjee did not appear.
At this, judge Suvendu Saha said that Partha Chatterjee and the rest got bail from the high court on the condition that they would have to appear in court on the days of the case.
Although Chatterjee’s lawyer said that he could not appear in person at the court due to health reasons, and that they have also filed an application in the court to that effect, the judge warned: “If the accused does not appear, this court has the power to cancel the bail.” However, on Wednesday, Chatterjee submitted his passport to the court through his lawyer as part of his bail condition.
Apart from Chatterjee, another accused in the case, Shantanu Banerjee, was absent from the court.
However, several people, including state minister Chandranath Sinha, Kuntal Ghosh, and Chatterjee’s companion Arpita Mukherjee, were present. Mukherjee told the court that her three bank accounts have been closed and requested that they be reopened. Her argument is that the accounts were opened in 2002, and at that time, this case did not exist, and therefore, there is no reason to close them.
He application will be heard on December 8.
On November 11, Chatterjee was released on bail from judicial custody more than three years after he was arrested by the ED in the multi-crore SSC teacher recruitment scam in July 2022. On the day of Chatterjee’s arrest in 2022, the ED had unearthed Rs 20 crore in cash from the house of Arpita Mukherjee, who was also arrested in the same case.
In September, the Calcutta High Court granted bail to Chatterjee, who had been in ED and later in CBI custody before being sent to judicial custody.
Despite the bail order, Chatterjee could not be released immediately due to a Supreme Court directive which said that Chatterjee be released only after the trial court completes the examination of material witnesses within two months.
(IANS)
