Arrested Trinamool Congress MLA Partha Chatterjee and her close aide Arpita Mukherjee remanded to 14 days judicial custody by a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Kolkata (Bankshall court) on Friday 5 August.
Chatterjee and Mukherjee will be taken to Presidency Correctional Home and Alipur Women's Correctional Home respectively. They will be produced in court again on 18 August.
Chatterjee was arrested on 23 July by the ED in relation to alleged irregularities in the recruitment of teachers, teaching and non-teaching staff, through the West Bengal School Service Commission, during his tenure as the Education Minister of West Bengal.
Chatterjee was removed from all party posts and suspended from the TMC, soon after he was sacked from the Mamata Banerjee Cabinet.
Times Now reported that during the court proceedings, Chatterjee's lawyers when praying for his bail said that he is a common man and a victim of the SSC scam. They further added that Chatterjee is ready to give up his MLA position if need be.
ED's petitioners countered it by saying that Chatterjee did not sign on his own arrest memo and mentioned West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's name as a relative in the memo, as a sign of how influential he is.
At least 50 crores of unaccounted cash, along with jewellery, land deeds, foreign currency, several properties in Mukherjee's name and linked to Chatterjee. They have also found multiple companies and properties linked to the two accused.
Times Now further reported that ED's petitioners told the court that there is a 'grave threat perception and specific intel of threat' in regards to Mukherjee. They further pleaded that the food and drinks provided to her must be tested.
It must be noted here that the ED car in which she was travelling shortly after her arrest was rammed into by another car.
During the ED interrogations, while Chatterjee has claimed that he has no connection whatsoever with the money that has been recovered, Mukherjee has said that the money was placed in her flat during her absence.
Chatterjee has also denied knowing Mukherjee closely, according to ED sources.
TMC MLA Kunal Ghosh in his personal capacity attacked Chatterjee saying that he should know what it feels like to be inside jail.
I hope Partha is treated as a regular prisoner by jail authorities. I hope they treat him like they treated me – kept in a cell, moved around from jail to jail.Kunal Ghosh, TMC MLA
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)