Highlights
- Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee was flown to AIIMS, Bhubaneswar today.
- Calcutta HC heard ED's plea against the transfer of Chatterjee to SSKM hospital.
- ED prayed before the magistrate to allow Chatterjee to be taken to Command Hospital instead.
Partha Chatterjee news: West Bengal state minister and former education minister Partha Chatterjee was flown to AIIMS, Bhubaneswar today, for which several Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials had reached Kolkata's SSKM hospital this morning. Chatterjee was admitted at the SSKM hospital and was flown to Bhubaneswar by an air ambulance today, accompanied by a doctor from SSKM Hospital and his advocate.
The Calcutta High Court said that political leaders belonging to the ruling party (Trinamool Congress) had successfully avoided ED quizzing in the past by taking shelter in SSKM hospital in Kolkata. The Court was hearing the Enforcement Directorate's plea against the transfer of the arrested West Bengal minister to state-run SSKM Hospital.
Notably, ED prayed before the magistrate to allow Chatterjee to be taken to Command Hospital instead of the state-run SSKM. ED said that Chatterjee is a senior minister and his roots are deep in government hospitals, where he can be influential. However, the court ordered Chatterjee to be taken to SSKM Hospital.
The Court said that the accused would be taken to the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata by an ambulance from the SSKM Hospital and would be accompanied by his advocate and an SSKM doctor.
The Court directed that the minister be produced before a special ED court in Kolkata through virtual mode at 4 pm on Monday. TMC, on the other hand, demanded a time-bound probe in the ED case against Chatterjee, asserting the party will not interfere politically if any leader has done anything wrong.
ED personnel raided several locations in the state on July 22 as part of their probe into the money trail involved in a teacher recruitment scam at government-sponsored and aided schools. Chatterjee and Mukherjee were arrested as part of the ED's investigation into the scam.
(With ANI Inputs)
