Bengal SSC Scam LIVE Updates: West Bengal Minister Partha Chatterjee and his aide Arpita Mukherjee — both arrested in connection with the teacher recruitment scam last week — were on Monday sent to ED Custody till August 3 even as the probe agency prayed for a 14-day custody for the TMC leader.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED), probing the alleged scam, prayed for 14 days’ custody of Partha Chatterjee before a special court of the agency, pointing out that AIIMS-Bhubaneswar, after a check-up, ruled out the minister’s hospital admission.
In its submission, the ED said that Chatterjee had taken admission in Bengal government-run SSKM hospital faking illness and the agency could not question him during the two-day remand granted by a chief metropolitan magistrate on Saturday.
The ED, on the other hand, sought 13 days’ custody of Mukherjee as her clounsel prayed that a short custody be given for her and that her security be ensured in the wake of Sunday’s accident, when a vehicle hit a car of the convoy ferrying her from court to the agency’s CGO complex.
Meanwhile, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Monday that if anyone is found guilty of wrongdoing, he must be punished, adding that she won’t mind even if it is life imprisonment.
The opposition BJP and CPI(M) in West Bengal on Monday claimed that the TMC was trying to distance itself from minister Partha Chatterjee after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said she would not spare anyone if found guilty. Leader of opposition Suvendu Adhikari of the BJP said no one would believe that the TMC’s top leadership was unaware of the scam, which allegedly happened when Chatterjee was the education minister.
“Such comments are laughable. The investigating agencies must investigate the money trail. The TMC top brass is now trying to distance itself from Partha Chatterjee as if he is solely responsible for everything. The TMC is trying to make him a scapegoat,” Adhikari said. “What is stopping the state government from sacking Partha Chatterjee as a cabinet minister? This proves that the TMC supports corruption,” he added.
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