Partha Chatterjee and his aide Arpita Mukherjee have been sent to 14 days custody
Arrested Trinamool Congress leader Partha Chatterjee and his aide Arpita Mukherjee have been sent to jail for 14 days in the School Service Commission appointments scam case. The next hearing is on August 18.
The Enforcement Directorate, or ED, had asked for 14-day custody of the former Bengal Education Minister and Arpita Mukherjee.
The probe agency lawyer said they need to interrogate the two accused in the correctional home over new findings in the case.
The anti-money laundering special court judge, Jibon Kumar Sadhu, reserved his order after hearing all the parties in the case.
Both accused have been in the ED's remand since their arrest on July 23 in connection with the agency's investigation into the alleged money trail involved in illegal appointments of teaching and non-teaching staff in West Bengal government sponsored and aided schools.
Seeking bail, the arrested leader's lawyer said he was an ordinary person now and will not run away from investigation.
"He is not an influential person anymore and is also willing to consider giving up his MLAship," Partha Chatterjee's lawyer said.
Partha Chatterjee has been relieved of his ministerial duties by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, while Trinamool Congress has removed him from all posts he held in the party.
The ED has claimed that out of the 15 days that Partha Chatterjee has been in custody, at least two days were wasted owing to his admission to the state-run SSKM Hospital.
The ED has claimed to have recovered Rs 49.8 crore in cash, a huge quantity of jewellery and gold bars from flats owned by Partha Mukherjee, besides documents of properties and of a company joint held by the two accused.
With inputs from PTI