Rejecting his bail application, a special court in Kolkata sent former West Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee to CBI custody till September 21 in connection with a job scam.
The court also remanded former West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE) president Kalyanmoy Ganguly, arrested on Thursday, in CBI custody for the same period.
The CBI, which is looking into School Service Commission (SSC) teaching and non-teaching staff recruitment scam, told the court that there was a huge conspiracy and to unearth the details of it, custodial interrogation of both Chatterjee and Ganguly was necessary.
"It was alleged that the accused extended undue advantage and in conspiracy with others had facilitated illegal appointment to the undeserving and unlisted candidates to the post of Group-C staffs in various schools across the state of West Bengal," the CBI said in a statement.
Seeking relief, the 70-year-old former minister told the judge that he took 28 medicines daily.
The ex minister's lawyer argued that the ED has so far not been able to bring any solid evidence proving that his client had a role in the teacher recruitment scam.
The agency had earlier recorded statements of two former officials of the School Service Commission (SSC) - Santi Prasad Sinha and Ashok Kumar Saha.
Partha Chatterjee, who held the education portfolio when the scam was allegedly pulled off, was relieved of his ministerial duties by the Mamata Banerjee government following his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate or ED, which was probing the money trail in the scam.
His alleged close associate Arpita Mukherjee was also held on the same day by the probe agency following the seizure of cash of nearly Rs 50 crore, apart from bullion, jewellery and property deeds from her flats in the city.
