Kolkata, 1 October (H.S.) — The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday signaled that it may move to prevent the release of former West Bengal Education Minister and Trinamool Congress Secretary General Partha Chatterjee from judicial custody, even after the Calcutta High Court cleared the way for his bail in the last pending case filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The High Court, on September 26, granted bail to Chatterjee in a case linked to irregularities in primary teachers’ recruitment, marking the final hurdle in a series of cases connected to the multi-crore school jobs scam investigated by both CBI and ED. While the order technically opened the door for his release, procedural delays kept him in custody.

In an earlier directive, the Supreme Court had emphasized that a lower court must complete framing of charges and record witness statements in all pending cases before Chatterjee could be freed. This process is expected to conclude by November.

However, ED officials indicated that the agency retains an option to extend Chatterjee’s detention. Despite being named as an accused in both the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) and the West Bengal Board of Primary Education (WBBPE) cases, Chatterjee has not yet been formally arrested by the ED in the WBSSC matter.

If the ED chooses to exercise this option and shows him as arrested before his anticipated release, his judicial custody could be extended for an indefinite period. The agency recently employed a similar strategy in the case of Trinamool legislator Jiban Krishna Saha, who was re-arrested by the ED in the WBSSC case after securing bail in a related CBI case, keeping him in custody once again.

Hindusthan Samachar / Satya Prakash Singh