The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed its third supplementary charge sheet in the multi-crore West Bengal school jobs scam in a Kolkata special court on Saturday. This comes as a parallel investigation by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has already resulted in five charge sheets. However, the ED’s case has faced repeated delays in charge framing at a special PMLA court due to the prime accused, Sujay Krishna Bhadra’s, repeated failure to appear, reportedly due to hospitalization.
Crucially, the CBI secured permission from the West Bengal Governor, C.V. Ananda Bose, to file charges against former West Bengal education minister and Trinamool Congress secretary general, Partha Chatterjee. This gubernatorial approval is a necessary prerequisite for the court to accept the charge sheet against a member of the state cabinet, clearing the way for charge framing against Chatterjee in the CBI’s case.
Chatterjee’s arrest by ED officials in July 2022, following the recovery of large sums of cash and gold from the residences of his associate Arpita Mukherjee, marked a significant turning point in the investigation. He remains incarcerated at Presidency Central Correctional Home in South Kolkata, while Mukherjee has since been granted conditional bail. A subsequent CBI arrest further complicates Chatterjee’s prospects for release.
The ED’s investigation has yielded significant financial seizures, with confiscated assets totaling ₹239.26 crore to date.