Former West Bengal education minister Partha Chatterjee, one of the key accused in the cash-for-school jobs scam, was released on bail on Tuesday, three years and three months after he was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on July 23, 2022.
The Trinamool Congress leader was subsequently arrested by the CBI in multiple cases related to the state School Service Commission recruitment irregularities in schools for teachers in classes 9-10, 11-12 and non-teaching staff in Groups C and D from the commission's panel for the year 2016.
Chatterjee, who had been admitted to a private hospital in the Mukundapur area of south-east Kolkata for the past 203 days, reportedly on account of multiple ailments concerning his kidneys and heart, was released from judicial custody after furnishing his bail bond.
His release followed the completion of the examination of witnesses before a special CBI court on Monday in a case related to the alleged corruption in the recruitment of Group C staff.
After recording the testimony of the last (eighth) witness, the CBI court accepted the bail prayer and sent the order to the chief judicial magistrate, Alipore court who, in turn, forwarded the release order to the Presidency jail authorities.
Chatterjee was discharged from the hospital, where he remained admitted since April 22 this year, after prison authorities passed on the release orders to the hospital.
He had earlier been granted bail in the ED cases, while the Supreme Court had, on August 18, ordered that Chatterjee could be granted bail in the Group C recruitment case "after the trial court records statements of material witnesses".
On September 26, a single bench of the Calcutta High Court also granted him bail on multiple conditions, including one that stated that he "will not be appointed to any public office (except that he is continuing to be a member of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly) during pendency of investigation and trial".
Chatterjee's followers had gathered in significant numbers in front of the hospital, shouting 'Partha da zindabad' slogans amid an emotionally charged atmosphere when the former Trinamool Congress secretary general boarded his car at around 2 pm and headed for his Naktala residence in south Kolkata.
Although the leader refrained from making a public statement following his discharge from hospital, eye-witnesses said the former minister sat with folded hands in the co-driver's seat with tears in his eyes.
"Release on bail doesn't mean that Chatterjee is absolved of his crimes. Law will take its course," said West Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattacharya.
"We believe that the recruitment scam is not one that was hatched by an individual. Rather, it's an institutional crime where top leaders of the TMC are involved. I hope Partha da, who is a senior politician who began his journey from the domain of students' politics, will be forthcoming and name those actors from behind the curtains," he added.
Chatterjee was arrested by the ED after cash worth over Rs 50 crore and gold ornaments worth Rs 4.5 crore were recovered from twin residences owned by his close aide Arpita Mukherjee during raids linked to the scam.
The alleged corruption brought to surface thousands of illegal appointments of unqualified candidates to teaching and non-teaching positions across state-run and state-aided schools in West Bengal "in lieu of extraneous consideration." In April this year, the Supreme Court annulled the panel of nearly 26,000 teachers and non-teaching staff appointed by the WBSSC in 2016, citing a "vitiated and tainted" recruitment process linked to the pervasive cash-for-jobs scam and ordered a fresh selection process.
The order led to large-scale repercussions against the commission and the state government from affected teachers and non-teaching staff who claimed to have obtained appointments through legitimate means, yet found themselves at the receiving end of the Top Court ruling.
Three months later, in August, the SSC released a list of 1,804 names of "tainted ineligible", candidates whose appointments had allegedly been made using illegal means. The commission is currently in the process of completing the fresh recruitments to the vacant posts where "untainted" candidates have been awarded a "second chance" to prove their eligibility.
Following Chatterjee's arrest, the Trinamool Congress had removed him from the state cabinet and stripped him of his party positions.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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