West Bengal Minister Partha Chatterjee and his alleged associate Arpita Mukherjee, who was arrested in connection with its probe into the school jobs scam were sent to 10 days of Enforcement Directorate, ED custody by the Kolkata court.

The ED had prayed for 14 days of custody of Chatterjee, stating that AIIMS, Bhubaneswar has said in a report after medical examination of the minister on a Calcutta High Court order that no active intervention is required over his health.

Rejecting a bail prayer of the minister, special ED Court judge Jibon Kumar Sadhu at Bank shall court here granted ED custody of the minister and also of Mukherjee till August 3. The court directed in its order which came around 11 pm that the two accused persons, who were arrested on July 22, be produced before it again on August 3.

The ED prayed for 14 days’ custody of Chatterjee claiming that he has been in state-run SSKM Hospital allegedly faking illness and thus the agency could not question him during the two-day remand granted by the CMM in-charge court on Saturday. The agency also prayed for Mukherjee’s custody for 13 days.

Calcutta High court on Sunday directed that Chatterjee be taken to AIIMS, Bhubaneswar, for a medical check-up by specialists of various departments on Monday morning. The judge directed that a medical examination be conducted of both the accused every 48 hours of their detention in ED custody.

The court directed the investigating officer not to inflict torture upon the accused persons. The investigating officer was directed not to subject Mukherjee to custodial interrogation between 9 PM and 6 PM.

(With inputs from PTI)

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