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A court in Kolkata on Thursday, 18 August, extended the judicial custody of former Trinamool Congress (TMC) minister Partha Chatterjee and his aide Arpita Mukherjee till 31 August.
Earlier, the duo were remanded to 14 days judicial custody by a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Kolkata (Bankshall court) on 5 August.
At least Rs 50 crore of unaccounted cash, along with jewellery, land deeds, foreign currency, and several properties in Mukherjee's name and linked to Chatterjee were found by the ED, which also found multiple companies and properties linked to the two accused.
The scam allegedly occurred when Chatterjee was in charge of state education as a minister in the Mamata Banerjee government.
It involved alleged irregularities in the recruitment of Group C and D staff, as well as teachers in government-sponsored and aided schools on recommendations of the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC).
The Calcutta High Court also ordered a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the matter, in connection with which the senior minister was questioned twice earlier this year.
An inquiry committee that was constituted to look into the alleged scam claimed that more than 600 staff members of Group D had been illegally recruited.
Four unsuccessful candidates had moved the Calcutta High Court, alleging that 523 candidates had been appointed after the panel expired.
As per an inquiry committee constituted by a division bench in 2021, a total of 381 candidates had been recruited illegally in Group C. The committee also alleged that a panel appointed by the joint secretary to the West Bengal government, to oversee the recruitment of around 13,000 non-teaching staff, did not have any legal validity.
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Published: 18 Aug 2022,05:12 PM IST