Recruitment case: PMLA court allows virtual production of Partha, Arpita

kolkata: A PMLA court here has allowed the production of former minister Partha Chatterjee and his alleged close aide Arpita Mukherjee, both arrested by the ED in connection with the school jobs scam, through the virtual mode.

The two, who are in judicial remand, are scheduled to be produced before the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court on August 31.

A prayer was made before the judge in charge by the superintendent of Presidency Correctional Home to allow the authorities to produce Chatterjee before the PMLA court through the virtual mode instead of physical production.

The judge in charge of the special court on Monday ordered that both Chatterjee and Mukherjee be produced through the virtual mode on August 31 from the correctional homes they are lodged in.

Meanwhile, Chatterjee is likely to be dropped from the West Bengal Assembly committees, said sources.

Chatterjee is a legislator of the state Assembly though he is no longer a minister of the state Cabinet."He is presently in jail. So there is no use in him being a committee member of the state Assembly. That's why the parliamentary party has decided that he will not be given the membership of any committee for the time being, TMC chief whip Nirmal Ghosh said.

However, state Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee said that he is yet to take any decision on the issue.

Chatterjee, now suspended TMC leader, was arrested on July 23 by the ED in connection with the school recruitment scam. As per assembly norms, any legislator of the Assembly is allotted membership to two committees, a departmental standing committee and a committee of the Assembly.