Bengal job scam: Accused shifted to ventilator, charges framing process delayed

Kolkata, Dec 31 With Sujay Krishna Bhadra, one of the prime accused in the cash-for-school job case in West Bengal, being shifted to a ventilator at a private hospital in Kolkata uncertainties have surfaced over the process of framing of charges in the case registered by Enforcement Directorate (ED).

He was put on a ventilator on Monday night. The process of framing charges in the case has started at a special court of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in Kolkata. However, feel legal experts, the process now is bound to receive a setback following the event of Bhadra being shifted to the ventilator.

Explaining the nature of hurdles in the charge framing process, senior advocate of Calcutta High Court Kaushik Gupta said that as per rules all named as accused in the charge sheets need to be physically present at the court during the entire process of charge framing.

“Now in case of hospitalisation of one of the accused, the court generally waits for some time for the recovery of the accused concerned and be back in the condition to be present at the court so that the process of charges framing can begin again. Only after a reasonable point of time if the accused concerned does not become medically fit again to appear at the court, the charges framing process is split and starts for other accused in the case. So in the school job case, for the time being, the charges framing process is bound to be delayed or postponed,” Gupta explained.

On Monday morning after Bhadra complained of acute uneasiness he was first shifted from Presidency Central Correctional Home in South Kolkata to state-run S.S.K.M. Medical College & Hospital, also in South Kolkata. Later in the night, as his condition reportedly deteriorated he was shifted to a private hospital in Kolkata where he had earlier undergone bypass surgery.

Of the total of 53 named in subsequent charge sheets filed by ED, 29 are individuals and the remaining are corporate entities or trusts. Besides Bhadra, the other heavyweight names shown as accused in the charge sheets include former West Bengal education minister and Trinamool Congress secretary general Partha Chatterjee and ruling party legislator and the former president of West Bengal Board of Primary Education, Manik Bhattacharya.

Chatterjee’s close aide Arpita Mukherjee and son-in-law Kalyanmoy Bhattacharya are among the other individuals named as accused in the charge sheet.

Source: IANS