Judge Warns Former West Bengal Minister Partha Chatterjee of Bail Cancellation After Court Absence

Apart from Chatterjee, another accused in the case, Shantanu Banerjee, was absent from the court.

Kolkata:

A special CBI judge issued a stern warning to former West Bengal Education Minister Partha Chatterjee on Wednesday, threatening to cancel his bail in the primary teachers recruitment corruption case due to his absence from the scheduled court hearing.

The Enforcement Directorate's (ED) primary teachers recruitment case was being heard at the special CBI Court on Wednesday. All accused individuals were required to appear in person, but Chatterjee failed to attend.

Judge Suvendu Saha emphasized that Chatterjee and other accused had received bail from the high court under the explicit condition that they must appear in court on all hearing dates.

Chatterjee's legal representative explained that his absence was due to health issues and stated they had submitted an appropriate application to the court regarding this matter. Nevertheless, Judge Saha warned: "If the accused does not appear, this court has the power to cancel the bail." On Wednesday, Chatterjee did comply with one bail condition by submitting his passport to the court through his lawyer.

Shantanu Banerjee, another accused in the same case, was also absent from the proceedings.

Several other individuals connected to the case, including state minister Chandranath Sinha, Kuntal Ghosh, and Chatterjee's companion Arpita Mukherjee, were present in court. Mukherjee requested the court to reopen her three bank accounts that had been closed. She argued that these accounts were established in 2002, long before the current case existed, thus providing no justification for their closure.

The court scheduled a hearing for this application on December 8.

Chatterjee had been released on bail from judicial custody on November 11, more than three years after his July 2022 arrest by the ED in connection with the multi-crore SSC teacher recruitment scam. On the day of Chatterjee's arrest in 2022, the ED had discovered Rs 20 crore in cash at the residence of Arpita Mukherjee, who was also arrested in relation to the same case.

In September, the Calcutta High Court granted bail to Chatterjee, who had previously been in ED and later CBI custody before being transferred to judicial custody.

Despite the bail order, Chatterjee's release was delayed due to a Supreme Court directive specifying that he could only be released after the trial court completed its examination of material witnesses within a two-month timeframe.