Bengal school job scam: Partha Chatterjee gets conditional bail from HC

Kolkata, Sep 26 (IANS) Former West Bengal Education Minister and Trinamool Congress Secretary General Partha Chatterjee, on Friday, was granted conditional bail by Calcutta High Court’s single-judge bench of Justice Suvra Ghosh in a case registered against him by the CBI in relation to irregularities in the recruitment of primary teachers.

With the development, decks are finally cleared for Chatterjee to be free from judicial custody after a gap of three years and two months.

This is because, although different courts had already granted bail in all other cases in relation to the multi-crore cash-for-school-job case registered both by CBI and Enforcement Directorate (ED) against him, the development of his getting free from judicial custody was dependent on the Calcutta High Court’s verdict in this particular case registered by CBI.

The hearing on this case was concluded at Justice Ghosh’s bench on September 15. However, the order was kept on reserve on that day, and finally, on Friday, Justice Ghosh granted him the conditional bail, clearing the decks of his freedom from judicial custody.

However, Chatterjee will not be able to enjoy the forthcoming Durga Puja starting from September 29 from his home since technically it will take some more time, which legal experts say is around a month or a little more than that, for him to be actually free from judicial custody.

This is because, on August 18, during the hearing on Chatterjee bail petition, the Supreme Court observed that the lower court (a special court of CBI in this case), will have to first complete the process of framing of charges in all the cases registered against him by the Central agency and record the statements of the witnesses in all the case and only after that the former West Bengal education minister could be freed from judicial custody.

Now, with the framing of charges in these cases at the lower court already completed and the recording of statements of the witnesses in the cases having already started, legal experts feel that the same process will be completed within a month or a little more than that, and only after that, Chatterjee will be free from judicial custody.

On Friday, the Calcutta High Court also imposed several restrictions on Chatterjee for granting him bail. He would not be able to step out of the area designated by the court with the court’s permission, and would not be able to occupy any government post till further orders.

He will have to deposit his passport, and will also not be allowed to interact with any witness in the cases or influence them.

Chatterjee will not be able to change his mobile number and will not be allowed to enter his Assembly constituency, except if required to do so in his capacity as an MLA.

Among all the accused in the school-job cases, Partha Chatterjee is the one who has been behind the bars for his involvement in the school-job case for the longest period. He was arrested on July 23, 2022, at his residence by ED officials. Later, he was also shown arrested by the CBI.

--IANS

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