BREAKING | Calcutta High Court Denies Bail To Former WB Education Minister Partha Chatterjee In Cash-For-Jobs Scam

The Calcutta High Court has declined the bail prayer of former Education Minister and Member of Legislative Assembly Partha Chatterjee in the cash-for-jobs recruitment scam, involving the illegal recruitment of Assistant Teachers under the West Bengal Board of Primary Education.

A single bench upon going through the evidence including the amounts of money and assets, jewellery seized from Chatterjee and co-accused Arpita Mukherjee denied the bail application and held:

I have taken into account the materials available in the instant case, particularly, the seizures, which were effected both in respect of the movable and immovable assets, the consistent version of the witnesses under section 50 of the PMLA as well as the corroborating materials which establishes the relationship between Partha Chatterjee and Arpita Mukherjee, which demonstrates trust, faith and confidence from both the sides, as the petitioner is the nominee in the bank account and insurance policies and the immoveable properties which have been purchased through different companies were in the name of Ms. Arpita Mukherjee. Thus the statement which points to the cash seizures and jewellery from the two flats does not at this stage create any circumstance in favour of the petitioner to overcome the twin conditions under Section 45 of PMLA.

The prayer for bail was made in a case connected with the seizure of certain immovable assets and jewellery from Chatterjee and a co-accused which were allegedly purchased with illegal proceeds from the recruitment scam.

ED submitted that large recoveries of illegal proceeds were made from the house of one Arpita Mukherjee, who was Chatterjee's accomplice. It was argued that if the petitioner was released at the present stage, he would attempt to influence the probe, being a high-level former minister.

The entire sequence of events pointed to a large-scale public scam wherein eligible and meritorious candidates were denied the opportunity of being appointed as school teachers and ineligible, below- ranked and even failed candidates were wrongly recommended and illegally appointed as teachers, the ED said.

It was stated that in the investigation there were seizures affected, amounting to Rs 21.90 crores, in addition to gold jewellery, and further seizures of multiple crores of rupees were made based on statements by Arpita Mukherjee.

It was submitted that Partha Chatterjee and Arpita Mukherjee were found involved in the commission of the offence of money laundering, by indulging in a criminal conspiracy for illegally giving jobs for the post of assistant teachers in primary schools against bribe amount and generating huge proceeds of crime and for having knowingly indulged, assisted, involved and being a party in the process and activity connected to the proceeds of crime including its concealment, possession, acquisition, use, projecting as well as claiming the said proceeds of crime as untainted property deriving illegal monetary gains.

Accordingly, pursuant to these developments, the ED submitted that Chatterjee was arrested and submitted a tabulated record of seized illegal gains.

Counsel for the accused stated that he was 72 years old, diabetic, ailing from certain diseases and in custody for over a year. It was argued that the accused had no role in the crimes he was accused of and that the seizure which was conducted was from Arpita Mukherjee's estate and did not relate to Chattjeree.

Counsel relied on Apex Court precedent to state that the petitioner was in custody for 21 months, and the charges were yet to be framed, with the trial not expected to start anytime soon. It was stated that further detention would amount to pre-trial conviction and thus the petitioner must be released on bail.

In rejecting the arguments by the accused's counsel, the court held that corroborating material had established a relationship between Chatterjee and Mukherjee from him crores of illegal proceeds had been seized.

It was stated that at the present stage, Chatterjee had not been able to make out grounds to clear the twin conditions under Section 45 of the PMLA.

As far as pre-trial detention was concerned, the Court held that the petitioner would be entitled to a speedy trial, but could not be released at the present stage due to contentions raised regarding the potential tampering of witnesses.

Accordingly, the application was dismissed.

Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Cal) 104

Case: Partha Chatterjee. -vs.- Enforcement Directorate

Case No: CRM (SB) 180 of 2023

Click here to read order