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The Supreme Court on Wednesday heard the money laundering case related to the cash for school job scam in West Bengal. The court reserved the decision on the bail plea of the accused (former West Bengal Education Minister Partha Chatterjee). During the hearing, the court told the former Education Minister that at first glance you are a corrupt man. What message do you want to give to the society? Corrupt people can easily get bail, while crores of rupees were recovered from your premises?
Parth’s lawyer Mukul Rohatgi appeared before the bench headed by Justice Suryakant. He argued that the premises from which the money was recovered belonged to a company. On this, Justice Suryakant said that Partha Chatterjee had complete control over that company. Properties were purchased in the joint name of Partha Chatterjee and Arpita. After taking over the post of Education Minister, he recruited fake people.
Fear of tampering with evidence
ASG SV Raju, appearing on behalf of the Enforcement Directorate, has opposed granting bail to Partha Chatterjee. He said that his investigation is going on in other cases. Even if Chatterjee gets bail, he will not come out of jail. Parth is in custody in two other CBI cases. There was also a fear of tampering with the evidence if he comes out of jail.
Lawyer Mukul Rohatgi said that his client has been in jail for 2.5 years. Whereas many other accused in this case have got bail. The court said that all these cases are of 2022, in which investigation has started after the intervention of the court. It is alleged that Rs 28 crore has been recovered, even though this money may not have been kept in his house.
What message do you want to give to the society?
The Supreme Court told Chatterjee’s lawyer Rohatgi that at first glance your client is a corrupt man. What message do you want to give to the society, corrupt people can easily get bail. Whereas crores of rupees were recovered from your premises? The court further said that today we have to see whether the granting of bail is likely to affect the investigation.
The question is how will they obstruct the investigation. Rohatgi said that the court can put a condition that they should not enter that area, they can stay somewhere else. On this, the Supreme Court asked the ED whether it cannot record the statements of witnesses under Section 164? Raju said that if they cooperate, then the ED can frame charges in 2 to 4 months. Then we will get the statements of these witnesses recorded.
