KOLKATA, Dec 30
(IANS):The process of framing charges in West Bengal's multi-crore
cash-for-school job case, registered by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), at a
special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Kolkata on Monday,
was postponed after the sudden hospitalisation of prime accused Sujay Krishna
Bhadra earlier in the day.
The next hearing in the matter will be on January 2 and
based on Bhadra's medical report, the special court judge will give a direction
in the matter.
As per protocol, all those named as accused in the
subsequent charge sheets filed by the ED need to be physically present at the
court at the time of framing of charges. Since, that was not possible in the
case of Bhadra, due to his hospitalisation, the process has been postponed till
the next hearing on January 2.
Bhadra is currently under treatment at state-run S.S.K.M.
Medical College & Hospital in south Kolkata where he was taken from the
Presidency Central Correctional Home. He complained of uneasiness in the
morning and after that, he became unconscious.
Earlier this month, the Calcutta High Court granted bail
to Bhadra in the case registered by the ED.
However, he remained behind bars as he was shown as
arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is conducting a
parallel probe in the school job case.
The CBI took his custody for three days for
interrogation. However, on December 21, the CBI refrained from seeking an
extension of his custody, with the agency's CBI counsel informing the court
that since being taken into custody, Bhadra had been refusing to consume food
and even medicines prescribed for him. As a result, he developed certain
medical complications.
The ED arrested Bhadra alias ‘Kalighater Kaku (Uncle from
Kalighat)‘ in May 2023. In its fifth and last charge sheet, it said that it had
confiscated an amount worth Rs 7.47 crore from a private corporate entity
linked to Bhadra and is in the process of confiscating another Rs 2.70 crore
from the same.
The ED has named a total of 53 as accused in the charge
sheets filed at the special PMLA court, out of which 29 are individuals and the
remaining 24 are corporate entities or trusts.
Besides Bhadra, the other heavyweight names in the charge
sheet include the former state Education Minister and Trinamool Congress
Secretary General Partha Chatterjee, who is also the former President of the
West Bengal Board of Primary Education (WBBPE).
Chatterjee's close aide Arpita Mukherjee and his
son-in-law Kalyanmoy Bhattacharya have also been named as accused.
A trust named Babli Chatterjee Memorial Trust, named
after the deceased wife of Partha Chatterjee, has also been named by the fifth
and last supplementary charge sheet filed by the ED in the matter recently.
