A special court in Kolkata reserved its order on Saturday on whether to grant bail to West Bengal correctional services minister Chandranath Sinha or to send him to the custody of Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the multi-crore school recruitment case in the state.
The Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court, which heard both sides for more than two hours, said that it will pass the order at 2pm on Tuesday.
“I have full faith in the judiciary,” Sinha told reporters after the hearing.
ED counsel sought seven days custody of Sinha alleging that the minister didn’t cooperate with the agency officials during questioning in the primary teacher recruitment case.
“We have sought custodial interrogation for seven days. We have submitted documents. Now let the court decide. Can’t say anything more now,” Dhiraj Trivedi, ED’s counsel told reporters.
Sinha is the second state cabinet minister to face prosecution in this case after former state education minister Partha Chatterjee who was arrested by ED in July 2022. He is currently in judicial custody.
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“Not all papers were readily available. We submitted all the documents after gathering them. We had sought some time which wasn’t granted by the agency,” Ayan Bhattacharjee, Sinha’s counsel, told media persons.
On March 22, 2024 the agency recovered ₹41 lakh cash and some incriminating documents from Sinha’s residence during a raid. The agency had issued a statement in August this year saying further investigation revealed large cash deposits in the bank accounts of Sinha.
The agency filed a supplementary chargesheet (Supplementary Prosecution Complaint) against Sinha under the PMLA, 2002 on August 6, this year in the recruitment case.
The total attachment by ED Kolkata in recruitment cases stands around ₹637 crore. Seven persons, including Chatterjee and other Trinamool Congress (TMC) lawmakers, have been arrested in the recruitment case.
On September 6, Sinha surrendered before the special court in Kolkata. The court granted him interim bail on a personal bond.
