Bengal School Job Fraud: Sujay Bhadra Seeks Bail from Calcutta High Court

Synopsis
Key Takeaways
- Sujay Bhadra applied for bail on health grounds.
- The CBI's investigation is separate from the ED's case.
- The court has requested a medical report by February 18.
- Voice samples have been collected from Bhadra and Kuntal Ghosh.
- High-profile individuals are implicated in the scam.
Kolkata, Feb 14 (NationPress) Sujay Krishna Bhadra, a key suspect in the multi-crore cash-for-school-job scandal in West Bengal, submitted a bail application on Friday to the division bench of the Calcutta High Court in relation to the case initiated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Bhadra's bail request is based on health issues. Although he was recently granted bail in the case pursued by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), he remains incarcerated due to the CBI's parallel investigation, which has classified him as arrested.
The division bench, led by Justice Arijit Banerjee, has accepted the petition and instructed the CBI to present Bhadra's medical report by February 18, the next hearing date.
On February 11, after three unsuccessful attempts, the CBI successfully obtained Bhadra's voice samples.
On Friday, the CBI also received authorization from a special court in Kolkata to gather voice samples from another suspect, Kuntal Ghosh, following the emergence of new evidence by the investigation team.
Previously, ED agents had also collected Bhadra's voice samples. The trial process for the case registered by the ED under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in Kolkata commenced earlier this month.
Notable figures implicated in the case include former West Bengal Education Minister and Trinamool Congress Secretary General Partha Chatterjee, his close associate Arpita Mukherjee, and his son-in-law Kalyanmoy Bhattacharya, among others.
The Babli Chatterjee Memorial Trust, named after Chatterjee's late wife, is also mentioned in the ED's chargesheet as an implicated entity. Allegations suggest that illicit funds were misrepresented as contributions to this trust and subsequently misappropriated.