Bengal school job case: First bail granted to Manik Bhattacharya’s wife

Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Monday approved conditional bail for Satarupa Bhattacharya, wife of Trinamool Congress legislator and former West Bengal Board of Primary Education (WBBPE) President Manik Bhattacharya in connection with the multi-crore school job case.

This is the first bail in the cash for school job case so far.

The series of arrests on this count by central investigative agencies started with the arrest of former West Bengal Education Minister and Trinamool Congress secretary general Partha Chatterjee in July last year.

While observing that there is no further necessity to keep Satarupa Bhattacharya in judicial custody, Justice Tirthankar Ghosh imposed a number of conditions for her bail.

As per the order, she will be released on bail against a personal bond of Rs 100,000, will not be able to step out of the state and will also have to submit her passport to the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

The possibility of her getting bail in the case became bright on August 4 only when during the course of hearing, Justice Ghosh questioned the ED about the justification for her custodial trial.

On that day, Justice Ghosh, despite admitting that there are chances of attempts to tamper with evidence if Satarupa Bhattacharya if released on bail, questioned the progress in the investigation of the ED after she had spent so many days in judicial custody.

"What is the necessity of such a custodial trial?" he questioned.

Satarupa Bhattacharya, along with her son Souvik Bhattacharya, was taken in custody by the ED sleuths in February this year. The ED had informed the court that both were fully aware of the former WBBPE President’s involvement in the scam and they were also partners in the process.

On this matter, the ED counsel also referred to a joint account held by Satarupa Bhattacharya with a deceased person and said the investigation official doubts that this account might have been used for diversion of scam proceeds.