A special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Kolkata on Wednesday, 3 August has extended the Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody of former West Bengal Education Minister Partha Chatterjee and his aide Arpita Mukherjee till 5 August, in connection with the School Service Commission recruitment scam.
The suspended Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader’s lawyer had submitted a bail plea before the court. Mukherjee’s counsel had argued that there was no more need for a further ED custody.
However, Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, appearing for the ED, told the court that they found several properties under the joint ownership of Chatterjee and Mukherjee, which requires further interrogation of the two.
Raju also added that Chatterjee has not been cooperative in the case but Mukherjee has been comparatively cooperative.
The ED had sought four days’ custody of Chatterjee and three days’ custody of Mukherjee in the case.
The SSC Scam
Both Chatterjee and Mukherjee were arrested by the ED on 23 July in connection with its probe into the multi-crore teacher recruitment scam.
Subsequently, Chatterjee was removed from all party posts and suspended from the TMC, soon after he was sacked from the Mamata Banerjee Cabinet.
In a series of raids, the financial investigation agency had seized around Rs 50 crore in cash, along with jewellery from two apartments of Mukherjee. She has since claimed that the money was put in her residences "without her knowledge" to frame her in the scam.
(With inputs from PTI.)
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