NEW DELHI: Minister of Bengal Partha Chatterjee was sent into custody for two days at the application management after being arrested in connection with a teacher recruitment scam.
The central investigation agency had requested the custody of the Bengal minister for 14 days. It will now be presented on Monday before a PMLA special court.
It is also learned that his health conditions are not good and therefore his lawyers may ask for his hospitalization.
Chatterjee was formally arrested after an interrogation marathon lasting over 26 hours, which began on Friday morning in which more than a dozen documents were seized from his residence in Naktala.
Arpita Mukherjee, a close associate of the minister, was also arrested. ED recovered Rs 20 crore in unaccounted for cash from the Mukherjee residence in southern Calcutta a day ago.
Sukanta Acharya, a former bureaucrat associated with Partha Chatterjee as his private secretary since 2011 he was also questioned by ED officials and subsequently taken into custody.
Minister Trinamool was taken to Joka ESI Medical College Hospital for examination after his arrest. From there, he was taken to the Calcutta Sessions Court (Bankshall Court).
Chatterjee told reporters outside the hospital that he had tried to contact the prime minister and TMC supreme Mamata Banerjee, but she didn’t make it.
Chatterjee was the state education minister when the alleged scam took place and ED is investigating the money laundering aspect of those involved in it.
The agency on Friday carried out simultaneous raids on the homes of former West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC) adviser Shanti Prasad Sinha, former West Bengal Board of Secondary Education chair Kalyanmoy Ganguly and nine others.
The CBI, as indicated by the Calcutta High Court, is examining alleged irregularities in the recruitment of Group C and D staff, as well as teachers in government sponsored and assisted schools on recommendations from the West Bengal School Services Commission. The ED is tracking the money in the scam.
Chatterjee, currently Minister of Industry and Commerce, was also interrogated by the CBI twice first, once on April 26 and then on May 18.
FacebookTwitterInstagramKOO APPYOUTUBE
