In the money laundering case linked to the West Bengal cash-for-jobs scam involving former West Bengal Education Minister Partha Chatterjee, the Supreme Court on Wednesday reserved judgment.
The bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan reserved the judgment after a detailed hearing.
During the hearing of the case, the top court questioned Chatterjee’s role in the case.
Justice Surya Kant, expressing displeasure, remarked that on the face of it, he appeared to be a corrupt person. He further asked what message they were supposed to send to society.
Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi appeared for Chatterjee in this case. Rohatgi argued that his client had been in custody for over years and was being subjected to unjust treatment.
Rohatgi said that everyone else was on bail, to this, Justice Surya Kant responded that not everyone was the Minister.
Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju, representing the Enforcement Directorate (ED), opposed the bail plea, emphasizing Chatterjee’s involvement in multiple cases.
ASG Raju stated, “Even if he is granted bail in the ED case, he won’t be released as he is in custody in two other CBI cases.”
In the CBI case, it had registered five FIRs in connection with the school-jobs-for-cash probe. Earlier, Chatterjee was also in CBI custody in a case of the school recruitment scam.
(By Sambhav Sharma)
