Following the Supreme Court of India's deadline, a special ED court in Kolkata began framing charges on Thursday against former West Bengal education minister Partha Chatterjee in connection with a money laundering case linked to the alleged West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC) recruitment scam.
On December 13, a Supreme Court bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and Ujjala Bhuyan, while granting Chatterjee conditional bail, instructed the trial court to finalise the framing of charges either before the winter vacation or by December 31, whichever came first.
Even though the courts are now on winter break, a special court sat on Thursday to frame charges against the former minister and 53 others. According to the law, all those named in the chargesheet appeared at the court.
The framing of charges was supposed to start on Monday but several of the accused alleged that the ED had not submitted all the required documents, prompting the court to ask the central agency to be more cooperative.
After reviewing the charges against Partha Chatterjee, who has filed for discharge from the case, the trial court is set to record witness statements by the third or fourth week of January, as per the Supreme Court's directive. Chatterjee may be granted bail by February 1, but he will have to attend every court hearing thereafter.
Meanwhile, the ED has claimed to have evidence of financial transactions between Chatterjee and Sujaykrishna Bhadra, a key accused in the money laundering case.
However, despite the potential relief in the ED case, the TMC leader is likely to remain in custody, as his bail plea in a separate case under investigation by the CBI was dismissed earlier this week. This case involves an alleged recruitment scam within the West Bengal Board of Primary Education (WBPE).
On Tuesday, Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty of the Calcutta High Court rejected the bail applications of Chatterjee and four others, Subiresh Bhattacharjee, Kalyanmoy Gangopadhyay, Ashok Saha, and Shanti Prasad Sinha.
On November 20, a two-judge bench of the high court issued a split verdict on the bail pleas of nine individuals connected to the CBI case. While four of the accused were granted bail, the remaining five were denied, as the judges could not reach a consensus.
Subsequently, the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court referred the matter to a single bench led by Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty for resolution.