The Supreme Court on Friday directed that West Bengal former education minister Partha Chatterjee can be granted bail in a money laundering case in connection with cash-for-job case.

 

The bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan directed that Chatterjee must be released on February 1, 2025. The court said if the trial progresses faster than the expected time, Chatterjee may be granted bail before February 1.

 

But the court made it clear that the former minister should not be appointed to any public office apart from the office of member of legislative Assembly (MLA) when he comes out on bail.

 

Chatterjee was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in July 2022 in connection with Bengal school teacher recruitment scam following raids conducted at premises linked to an aide of the former minister. The case is also being probed by the CBI.

 

The apex court today passed the order after noting that the 72-year old former minister jailed for over two years should not face punitive detention. But the court raised concerns about potential witness tampering, considering his political influence, if Chatterjee gets released before the trial court completes examining all witnesses.

 

During the course of investigation, the ED had recovered around Rs 49 crores in cash apart from jewellery from an apartment allegedly owned by Chattetjee’s aide Arpita Mukherjee who was also arrested by the ED. Recently, she has been released on bail.

 

However, sources said in order to come out of jail, Chatterjee will also need to get bail on the other case now being probed by the CBI in connection with recruitment scam. In November, a two-judge bench of Calcutta High Court gave a split verdict on the bail plea of Chatterjee in this case.

While Justice Arijit Bandyopadhyay had approved the bail application of the former education minister and eight others who appealed before the two-judge bench, Justice Apurba Sinha Roy had disapproved granting bail to Chatterjee and four other accused.

The case was referred to T. S. Sivagnanam, the Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court to create a third bench to decide on the applications of Chatterjee and the four accused officials.