The Calcutta High Court on Sunday ordered the Enforcement Directorate – which is probing the teacher recruitment scam – to take arrested West Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee to AIIMS, Bhubaneswar by air ambulance on Monday.
According to the court order, the accused will be accompanied by a doctor and his advocate. The court said that after a thorough medical examination of the accused, he should be produced before a special ED court in Kolkata via video conference at 4 pm on Monday.
Chatterjee, who was arrested on Saturday, was hospitalised in the evening after he complained of uneasiness. He has several health issues and was admitted to the ICCU of the state-run SSKM Hospital hours after he was remanded to two-day ED custody by a city court yesterday.
The ED had moved the Calcutta high court on Sunday challenging a Bankshall court order of sending Chatterjee to SSKM Hospital for his treatment. It said that Chatterjee was an influential person and could exercise his influence in the state-run hospital. The ED also alleged that the SSKM staff was behaving badly with the agency officials and also stressed that Chatterjee could be given the best treatment at AIIMS, Delhi.
Meanwhile, Chatterjee’s aide Arpita Mukherjee, who was arrested on Saturday, will be produced before a PMLA court (competent court) on Monday. The Bankshall court, where Mukherjee was produced earlier today, remanded her to one-day ED custody.
Wealth recovered from Partha Chatterjee’s aide’s house ‘Alibaba Box’
The ED, while producing Mukherjee before the Bankshall Court earlier today, stated that the huge amount of money recovered from Mukherjee’s premises was like “Alibaba box”. Sources in the ED said that “Alibaba box” has been referred to explain the amount of wealth, amounting to approximately Rs 20 crore, recovered from Mukherjee’s flat on Friday during searches, among other valuables.
ED had alleged that the amount is the proceeds of crime of the said SSC (School Service Commission) scam.
The agency also mentioned in the court today that the case is like an onion as the more it gets unravelled, the more information will come out.
Meanwhile, ED sources said Chatterjee has mentioned the name and mobile number of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in his arrest memo – an official procedure that involves asking the arrested person the name and contact number of one person whom he/she might wish to contact while in custody.
The Trinamool Congress, however, steered clear of the controversy as at a press conference on Saturday, the party made it clear that the responsibility for the entire development lay on Chatterjee. The TMC leadership also made it clear that it will not hesitate to take disciplinary action against Chatterjee if he was found guilty.
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