New Delhi:

Hearing the bail petition of former West Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee, the Supreme Court today questioned the Enforcement Directorate over the low conviction rate in money laundering cases and asked how long the senior politician can be kept behind bars.

Mr Chatterjee, once a trusted lieutenant of Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee and the Education Minister in her cabinet, was arrested in July 2022 in a money laundering case linked to the alleged teacher recruitment scam in the state. He has since been removed as minister and suspended from the Trinamool Congress.

Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Mr Chatterjee, pointed out that the trial is yet to begin and the veteran leader has already been in jail for 2.5 years in a case in which the punishment is 7-year imprisonment. “Trial is yet to start, there are 183 witnesses, four supplementary prosecution complaints, he is 73 years of age,” he said. Mr Rohatgi said that even Mr Chatterjee’s aide Arpita Mukherjee, from whose home a mountain of cash was recovered, has been granted bail.

Additional Solicitor General SV Raju said it is a “big case in which people were deprived of jobs and undeserving candidates appointed”. He said Arpita Mukherjee had said that the massive cash recovered from her premises belonged to Partha Chatterjee. Mr Rohatgi said nothing was recovered from the minister.

The bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan pointed out that the trial was yet to begin and hundreds of witnesses needed to be examined. “This is not the only case pending before the court you see… how long can we keep him behind bars?”

While acknowledging that the ED has a Herculean task on its hands and the allegations against the minister are “very serious”, the court said, “If in the ultimate analysis, he is not convicted, then what will happen? what will happen to the three years gone by.”

The court then asked the Centre’s lawyer, “What is your conviction rate for ED? It is very, very poor… We would have understood if it was 60 to 70 percent.”

Mr Raju said he was sure the minister would be convicted in this case and sentenced to seven years.

When the bench asked what will happen if he was released on bail, the Centre’s lawyer said, “There will be a retraction of statements by witnesses. Arpita is a close aide too.”

When Mr Rohatgi said it was a “horrendous argument”, Mr Raju replied it was a “horrendous crime”. The Centre’s lawyer said this was not a case to exercise discretion. “This is about neck-deep corruption… there are extreme and soft cases, this is an extreme case.”

Mr Rohatgi said the delay in the start of trial is the government’s problem. “This is not the law of bail and this court has tried to correct and steady the law on bail in the last six months,” he said, referring to the relief extended to AAP leaders Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and DMK’s Senthil Balaji.

The court then said it is “very easy for a political person to indulge in corruption and then say all this”. The matter was posted for Monday.

Kolkata:

The Calcutta High Court on Friday granted relief to TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee, directing the Enforcement Directorate (ED) not to take coercive steps against him in connection with its probe into the school jobs scam in West Bengal. The court, however, did not quash the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR), equivalent to an FIR, filed by the Enforcement Directorate against Mr Banerjee.

The single bench of Justice Tirthankar Ghosh directed the ED that no coercive steps can be taken against the Trinamool Congress MP based on the ECIR.

The court maintained that evidence produced by the ED is not sufficient to warrant Mr Banerjee’s arrest.

It also said that the investigation against Mr Banerjee into the alleged irregularities in recruitment of teachers in government and government-sponsored schools will continue.

Earlier this month, the TMC national general secretary was questioned by the ED for a marathon nine hours in connection with the West Bengal teacher recruitment scam.

The TMC hailed the high court judgement, while opposition Congress and CPI(M) reserved their comments.

TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said: “Though we should not directly comment on the probe and legal matters, but the judgement shows the central agencies have been hounding and harassing Banerjee, as he is a key force behind the battle against BJP’s communal and hatred-filled brand of politics.”

“The court has restrained the ED from harassing him further. Banerjee is helping in the probe and we know he will continue to assist the investigators,” Mr Ghosh added.

Party leader and senior West Bengal minister Sashi Panja said the Diamond Harbour MP has already deposed before the central agencies four-five times, but still “his harassment continues”.

Congress leader Adhir Choudhury told reporters that till Mr Banerjee is acquitted by the court, one should wait.

“The court has made some observations with regard to the probe by the ED. It is not proper to comment more at this juncture,” he said.

Sujan Chakraborty, CPI(M) central committee member, said it baffles him as to why Mr Banerjee would need “so many rakshakabach” (protective shield) from the court if he is not guilty.

Meanwhile, senior BJP leader Rahul Sinha said the court has asked probe agencies to continue their investigation against Mr Banerjee.

“Banerjee has been approaching the supreme court and the high court, seeking shields from probes by central agencies. I will not comment on judicial issues. He is entitled to such provisions,” Mr Sinha said. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)