The Supreme Court on Wednesday reserved orders on the bail plea by former West Bengal education minister Partha Chatterjee arrested in connection with a money laundering case linked to alleged irregularities in the recruitment of teachers even as it countered Chatterjee’s arguments claiming that he was innocent and that crores of rupees in cash seized by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) did not belong to him.
“What message do you want us to give to the society… that corrupt people will get bail. On the face of it, it is evident that you are a corrupt person as crores of money have been recovered from your premises,” a bench of justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan said during the hearing on Wednesday.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, who appeared for Chatterjee, said the money was recovered from a company where he is not a director.
The bench retorted, “Obviously you can’t be a director as you are a minister and it will be treated as an office of profit. Look at the statements made by the other accused. The property was jointly purchased by you and the other accused and after you became minister, you created dummy persons to control the companies”.
According to ED, cash worth nearly ₹50 crore and jewellery were seized from the residence of Arpita Mukherjee, a close associate of Chatterjee, who was education minister in West Bengal from 2014 to 2021. Another tranche of cash was recovered from the premises of a company controlled by Chatterjee.
The former minister was arrested by ED in July 2022 and faces multiple cases lodged by ED and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) related to allegations of bribery for the recruitment of primary teachers, secondary teachers and Group C and D posts.
Rohatgi denied that Chatterjee had any role to play in the companies from where cash was recovered. “The premises where cash is recovered is not mine. It is the premises of a company of which I am not the director.”
The court said there was no doubt that these companies belonged to Chatterjee. “In dummy companies where your people are in control, ₹27 crore is recovered. This is not an amount that people will keep with them.”
The 73-year-old former minister has offered to move out of West Bengal and not return to the state till the examination of witnesses is completed to address the apprehension that he may influence witnesses.
In his bail plea, Chatterjee said he had already been in jail for more than two years, that it was unlikely that the trial would begin soon and underscored that he faced medical issues due to his age.
During the proceedings on Wednesday, Rohatgi reiterated that all other accused were on bail and sought parity on this ground.
The bench remarked, “Don’t claim parity with other accused. Not everybody is a minister. You were the minister of the department where these recruitments took place. They are accused only because of you. Your status cannot be compared with them.”
When the senior lawyer cited the September decision of the top court granting bail to Tamil Nadu minister V Senthil Balaji, also accused in a cash-for-jobs case, the court replied, “Just because a minister in Tamil Nadu got bail, you cannot claim parity and say you also have to get bail. There is no association of ministers in this country.”
Rohatgi said the status of the trial was a crucial factor considered by courts for granting bail. “My status cannot damn me. There were statutory education boards which conducted the recruitment. If everything can be controlled by the minister, then why have these boards.” He said that neither CBI nor ED would have started the probe had it not been for an order passed by the Calcutta high court directing a CBI probe in June 2022.
The court justified the probe. “You are a minister. You will not order an investigation against yourself. It is only because of judicial intervention, that there is an investigation now.”
Chatterjee also highlighted that the CBI in October arrested him in one of the cases registered against him in 2022 to keep him behind bars. Questioning this approach, Rohatgi said, “Even the ED case is of 2022. If they wanted, they could interrogate him. Over 2 years have gone by. They had full opportunity to examine me (Chatterjee). But the idea seems to be to arrest him after he gets bail in one case. This is a complete violation of my fundamental right to life and liberty under Article 21.”
Referring to a chart submitted by ED, the court said some of the cases were still under investigation. The bench said, “Why don’t you investigate him when he is in custody? You can move an application seeking remand. For two years you have not done it.”
Additional solicitor general (ASG) SV Raju appearing for ED said the case involved multiple investigations and even the CBI was involved. He said that if Chatterjee cooperated, framing of charge in the present case relating to primary teacher recruitment could be done in 2 to 4 months as witnesses, particularly Arpita, expressed apprehensions of safety on the ground that she was afraid of him. He urged the court to consider granting bail after the main witnesses are examined.
The bench said, “What we have to consider is if his release hampers the investigation or trial, we need to put a brake on it. Obviously, it cannot be indefinite.”
Rohatgi suggested that Chatterjee could stay outside Bengal till the examination of witnesses was completed.
Raju asked the court to balance the rights of the accused with those of the victims and this was a case where a high-profile minister was neck-deep in corruption and where thousands of deserving persons, who may be poor, had lost jobs and undeserving persons who paid bribes got them. “It is not a case where courts should exercise discretion to grant bail,” Raju said.
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