A court on Friday sent former West Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee and his close aide Arpita Mukherjee to 14-day judicial custory in the school recruitment scam.
Special PMLA court judge Jibon Kumar Sadhu granted 14 days' judicial remand of Chatterjee and Mukherjee on a prayer by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). It rejected a bail prayer Chatterjee and directed that Chatterjee and Mukherjee be produced again on August 18 when the matter will be heard again.
The ED is investigating the money laundering aspect of the alleged scam, whereas the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is investigating its criminal aspects. Mukherjee and Chatterjee are facing charges under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
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Chatterjee is accused of ensuring in exchange for money jobs for candidates with lower marks. It is also alleged that question papers and answer keys were designed dubiously against eligible candidates. The scam allegedly took place when Chatterjee was the education minister between 2014-21.
Arpita is believed to be a close aide of Chatterjee and the ED has so far claimed to have recovered over Rs 50 crore in cash and jewellery in raids on multiple properties belonging to her. She is a former actor and a model.
It was reported on July 23 that Rs 21.20 crore, jewellery worth more than Rs 50 lakh, foreign currency worth Rs 54 lakh, and 22 mobiles were recovered from Mukherjee's property.
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ANI on July 28 reported that ED in another raid at one of Mukherjee's properties found Rs 27.9 crores in cash and Rs 4.31 crore-worth of gold and jewellery.
Chatterjee and Arpita have been in ED custody since their arrests on July 23.
