Supreme Court grants conditional bail to Partha Chatterjee in cash-for-jobs scam
The Supreme Court on Friday granted conditional future bail to former West Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee in a money-laundering case related to the cash-for-jobs scam and ordered the trial court to expedite the trial.
A bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan directed the trial court to decide on framing of charges by December 31 and then proceed to record statements of prosecution witnesses — who are most material and vulnerable — in the second or third week of January 2025. Subject to completion of these steps, Chatterjee can be released on bail, it said.
“The petitioner shall thereafter be released on bail on February 1, 2025, subject to his furnishing bail bonds to the satisfaction of the trial court,” it said.
Noting that Chatterjee was arrested by ED on July 22, 2022, the bench said it cannot be “oblivious to the settled principles that a suspect cannot be held in custody indefinitely and that undertrial incarceration should not amount to punitive detention”.
“The court would, nevertheless, ensure that affluent or influential accused do not obstruct the ongoing investigation, tamper with evidence or influence witnesses, namely, actions that undermine the fundamental doctrine of a fair trial,” the court said.
Chatterjee, a suspended member of TMC, will not come out of jail despite this order as he has also been arrested in other cases related to the “scam”. He is an accused in eight cases — three being probed by ED and five by CBI.
The top court warned Chatterjee against any attempt to influence or threaten witnesses directly or indirectly, saying it would entail cancellation of his bail.
