Guwahati: A session court in Kolkata sentenced West Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee and his assistant Arpita Mukherjee to 14 days in judicial detention on Friday in connection with the School Service Commission (SSC) recruitment scandal.
The pair will remain behind bars until August 18.
Special PMLA Court Judge Jibon Kumar Sadhu gave Chatterjee and Mukherjee a 14-day judicial remand on a request from the Directorate of Enforcement (ED).
The court denied the former minister’s request for bail and ordered Chatterjee and Mukherjee to be brought in again on August 18 when the case will be heard again.
Reports claim that Arpita’s lawyer declined to request her release on bond because he feared her life was in danger. Instead, he pleaded with the judge to keep her in solitary confinement with no more than four other criminals.
Since their arrests on July 23 in connection with the ED’s investigation into the money trail in unauthorised hirings made by the SSC for West Bengal government-sponsored and -aided schools, Chatterjee and Mukherjee have been held in detention.