Prison authorities deny special assistant for Partha Chaterjee

Kolkata: The authorities of Presidency Central Correctional Home in South Kolkata have rejected the plea of former West Bengal Education Minister and Trinamool Congress Secretary General Partha Chatterjee for a full-time assistant in his cell.

Chatterjee, who is in judicial custody at this correctional home because of his alleged involvement in the multi-crore cash-for-school job case in West Bengal, made the application on health grounds.

State correctional services department sources said that following Chatterjee’s plea, the prison authorities got him medically examined at the state-run SSKM Medical College & Hospital. Finally, based on the medical report from SSKM the correction home authorities turned down Chatterjee’s plea.

However, the home authorities have maintained that in case the former minister wishes to do some physical exercises, he can be provided with an assistant for the same.

State correctional service department insiders said that the home authorities have been advised to adopt an extremely cautious approach regarding such special appeals from Chatterjee, considering that the prison authorities had earlier been censured by the court for allowing the former minister to wear his ring while in judicial custody.

The court described that development as a blatant violation of prisonmanuals.

Incidentally, Chatterjee and his close associate Arpita Mukherjee, a co-accused in the case will be presented at PMLA special court in Kolkata on Tuesday. Another accused Trinamool Congress legislator Jiban Krishna Saha, who is also serving his judicial custody in the same case, will also be produced there on Tuesday.