Partha Chatterjee faces setback, ED orders to shift Bengal minister to AIIMS Bhubaneswar

Image Source : PTI Nadia: Congress workers stage a protest demanding action against TMC leader Partha Chatterjee, after he was arrested in the SSC scam case

Highlights

Calcutta HC directed ED to take Partha Chatterjee to AIIMS Bhubaneswar on Monday by air ambulance
Court directed that minister be produced before a special ED court in Kolkata through virtual mode
The Bengal minister was arrested in connection with the school jobs scam

Partha Chatterjee, West Bengal minister who was arrested in connection with the school jobs scam, faced a major setback on Sunday as the Calcutta High Court on Sunday directed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to take the minister to AIIMS Bhubaneswar early on Monday by air ambulance.

The court directed that the minister be produced before a special ED court in Kolkata through virtual mode at 4 PM on Monday. "The investigating agency is directed to take the accused by air ambulance to AIIMS, Bhubaneswar in the early morning on 25th July, 2022," Justice Bibek Chaudhuri directed.

After hearing pleadings in a revision application moved by the ED challenging a lower court order sending Chatterjee to state-run SSKM Hospital after his lawyers claimed he was ill, Justice Chaudhuri directed that the AIIMS, Bhubaneswar authority will medically examine the accused by a team of specialist doctors of cardiology, nephrology, respiratory medicines and endocrinology.

Case so far

The ED's money-laundering case stems from an FIR by the CBI, which was first directed by the Calcutta High Court to investigate the alleged scam in the recruitment of Group 'C' and 'D' staff, assistant teachers of classes 11 and 12 and primary teachers. At least seven to eight ED personnel arrived at Partha Chatterjee's Naktala residence in south Kolkata around 8:30 am and carried out searches till 11 am with CRPF personnel keeping guard outside, a source said.

Another team of the probe agency's officials visited Paresh Adhikari's home at Mekhliganj in the Coochbehar district and spoke to his family members, sources said. Chatterjee held the education portfolio when the alleged scam was reportedly pulled off. He was interrogated by the CBI twice, once on April 26 and then on May 18.