The Supreme Court has reserved its decision on Partha Chatterjee’s bail.
The hearing was held in the Supreme Court on Wednesday in the ED money laundering case linked to former West Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee. Chatterjee’s lawyer Mukul Rohatgi sought bail before Justice Surya Kant and Justice Ujjal Bhuiyan.
Arguing Mukul, he said, “Except Chatterjee, all the accused in this case have been released on bail, even a week ago one accused was released on bail. Chatterjee has been in jail for 2.5 years.
On this, the court said: Partha Chatterjee should be a little ashamed of pretending to be like the other accused, because they are all accused because of this. Not everyone is a minister. The first thing is that you (Partha Chatterjee) are a corrupt person. Millions of rupees have been recovered from your house. What message do you want to send to society? Can a corrupt person be released on bail in this way?
The court said that you (Partha Chatterjee) cannot demand treatment like others. We can question the delay in the investigation and the role of the other party, but not on the merits of the case. After the hearing, the court reserved its decision on Parth’s bail.
In fact, ED had arrested Partha Chatterjee on April 25, 2023 in a money laundering case linked to the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) teacher recruitment scam. On July 22, ED had recovered Rs 20 crore in cash during a raid at 18 locations from Parth and his close associate Arpita. Parth has been in jail since his arrest.
2 photos related to the case…
Partha Chatterjee was the education minister at the time of the West Bengal teacher recruitment scam. Arpita Mukherjee is close to him.
A stack of notes of Rs 2000 and Rs 500 was seized from Arpita. We had to call a machine to count them.
Live courtroom…
Mukul Rohatgi represented Parth and Additional Solicitor General S V Raju appeared on behalf of ED.
Rohatgi-Chatterjee has been in jail for a long time in this case. He should be released on bail like the other accused.
Bench-Parth, if the corrupt people can get bail in this case, what message will be sent to the society.
SV Raju- Even if Chatterjee gets bail in this case, he will not come out of jail as CBI cases are also pending against him.
Rohatgi- It seems that he (Raju) is taking pleasure in Parth’s troubles. Whatever happens in other areas, that’s in my opinion. I have to start somewhere. What kind of argument are they making? Parth has been in jail for 2.5 years.
Rohatgi- The money was not recovered from Parth’s premises but from a company’s premises.
Bench-Chatterjee controlled the company. Many properties were purchased in his and Arpita Mukherjee’s joint names. After Parth became a minister, mannequins were placed. First, you (Parth) controlled yourself. The matter concerns 2022. You (Parth) were a minister, you (Parth) obviously did not order an inquiry against yourself. The investigation began after the court intervened. It is alleged that Rs 28 crore was recovered. It is obvious that such a sum could not have been kept at home.
Bench: The court must examine whether the release of Partha Chatterjee will affect the investigation and conditions of the case as Partha Chatterjee cannot be kept in jail indefinitely.
Rohatgi-Parth is 70 years old, he fainted during the trial. Certain conditions may be imposed, for example that he will not enter the area and will stay elsewhere.
After hearing arguments from both sides, the bench reserved its order.
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