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-job scam.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan said
that Chatterjee shall be released on February 1, 2025 subject to the trial
court framing charges before the winter vacation and examination of vulnerable
witnesses by the second and third week of January 2025.
The top court said upon his release Chatterjee shall
not hold any public office but can continue as MLA.
The bench said that a suspect cannot be detained
indefinitely and, therefore, it has to balance the rights of the accused and
the victims.
On December 4, the top court had reserved its
verdict on his bail plea and told him that, "On the face of it you are a
corrupt person. Crores of rupees were recovered from your premises." The
top court in October issued a notice to the ED on the appeal filed by
Chatterjee against an April 30 Calcutta High Court order denying him a bail on
the grounds that a prima facie case was established against him under the PMLA.
Chatterjee was arrested in connection with the
alleged irregularities in recruitment of teaching and non-teaching staff in
West Bengal government-sponsored and aided primary schools.
The politician and his alleged close aide Arpita
Mukherjee were arrested by the ED in connection with its probe into the money
trail in the alleged illegal recruitments.
The ED claimed to have recovered Rs 49.80 crore in
cash, apart from jewellery, gold bars from flats owned by Mukherjee, besides
documents of properties and a company in joint holdings.