CBI arrests ex-Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee in teacher recruitment case

CBI arrested former Bengal education minister Partha Chatterjee in the teacher recruitment case on Tuesday

Updated on: Oct 1, 2024, 22:16:14 IST

By HT News Desk

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The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday arrested former Bengal education minister Partha Chatterjee in the teacher recruitment case.

Chatterjee has been arrested eight months after the federal agency filed supplementary chargesheets in four separate cases related to the alleged bribe-for-job scam, naming him in all four documents as one of the prime accused.

The development comes hours after the Supreme Court sought a reply from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Chatterjee's bail plea in the case.

A top court bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan, asked ED to file a reply on the ex-minister's bail plea, ANI reported.

Former Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee. (File)

Partha Chatterjee arrested by ED in 2022

In July 2022, the ED arrested Chatterjee in connection with the alleged West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC) teacher recruitment scam. Chatterjee was previously lodged at the Presidency Correctional Home in May this year.

The central agency had earlier recovered over ₹21 crore cash from the house of Arpita Mukherjee, an associate of Chatterjee. More than 20 mobile phones were also seized from her house.

ED had alleged that the seized cash was suspected to be the proceeds of crime in the school service commission case. The ED added that the search team sought help from bank officials to count the seized cash using machines.

TMC suspended Partha Chatterjee from the party and removed him from all the posts.

“There will be zero tolerance for corruption. Investigating agency must complete the probe within the time limit. Even in the Sarada case nothing happened, it's just lingering. There should be a time-bound investigation," TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee had said while announcing Chatterjee's suspension.

Earlier, the Calcutta High Court directed the CBI to carry out investigations into the recruitment scam of Group 'C' and 'D' staff, assistant teachers of classes IX-XII, and primary teachers.

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