Enforcement Directorate quizzes Partha Chatterjee in Presidency jail

Sources said Chatterjee was asked about his role in the functioning of the school service commission when he was Bengal’s education minister

Partha Chatterjee : File picture

TT SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT | 18.08.22  : Former minister Partha Chatterjee was questioned by Enforcement Directorate officers inside Presidency Correctional Home on Wednesday, a day before he and his alleged associate Arpita Mukherjee are scheduled to be produced in court.

Sources in the jail said Chatterjee was asked about his role in the functioning of the West Bengal School Service Commission when he was Bengal’s education minister.

Chatterjee, in judicial custody, has been charged with money laundering in the case related to the alleged illegal appointment of teachers and other staff for government-aided schools.

“He was asked about his involvement in the school service commission and who he used to directly interact with in the commission,” said an official in the correctional service department. 

In a separate but related case, the CBI has arrested former school service commission adviser S.P. Sinha and former secretary of the commission, Ashok Saha.

They were on Wednesday remanded in CBI custody till August 22. Earlier, the ED had allegedly seized documents belonging to the education department, including those related to teachers’ postings (some of which were as old as 2012) from the house of Chatterjee. 

Sources said they had sought to know why the documents related to the commission were found in Chatterjee’s house. One of the lawyers for Chatterjee said he was asked “old questions” that he had faced earlier, too.

The ED team reached the correctional home around noon and left around 4pm. The “interview” happened inside the room of the superintendent of the correctional home.