SC grants bail to Partha in ED case

Kolkata: Stating it will only be effective from February 1, the Supreme Court on Friday gave conditional bail to former education minister of West Bengal, Partha Chatterjee in the money laundering case in connection with recruitment scam while asking the trial court to finish framing of charges and recording of statements of vulnerable witnesses to avoid a “failed trial”.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan granted bail to Chatterjee, observing that undertrial incarceration should not amount to punitive detention and a suspect cannot be kept in custody indefinitely. The court, however, observed that the materials suggested the existence of a prima facie case against him.

The Bench directed the trial court to pronounce its order on the framing of charges in the money laundering case before the commencement of winter vacations or latest by December 31, 2024. Further, the apex court directed the Special Judge to record the statements of vulnerable prosecution witnesses and ones who apprehend threats to their lives, including Chatterjee’s aide Arpita Mukherjee who had alleged that the money recovered from her actually belonged to Chatterjee. The statements must be recorded between the second and third week of January. In case of delay, the recording of statements must be completed in the third or fourth week.

The court said Chatterjee could be released earlier than February 1 if the trial court completes its tasks before schedule.

The court directed that the petitioner, on release, shouldn’t be appointed to any public office, except that he could continue to be an MLA during the pendency of trial. These directions concern only the ED case, the court clarified.

However, Chatterjee is also in custody in the CBI case for which he has moved the Calcutta High Court for bail. Following a split verdict by a division bench, a single bench has been moved by him for bail. The next hearing in HC is

on December 17.