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West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday said that she does not support corruption or any wrongdoing, however, she condemns any malicious campaign against her in the wake of Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee's arrest.
The Chief Minister said, “if anyone is found guilty, he or she must be punished, but I condemn malicious campaign against me," according to news agency PTI report. Additionally Mamata Banerjee said that “BJP is wrong if it thinks it can break my party using agencies," adding, “truth must come out but within a time frame."
Meanwhile, an official informed earlier today that West Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee, arrested in connection with an alleged school jobs scam, was on Monday taken to Odisha in an air ambulance by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and admitted to AIIMS, Bhubaneswar as per direction of the Calcutta High Court. Notably, the court on July 24 directed the ED, which had arrested Chatterjee in connection with its probe into the scam, to take him to the health facility by an air ambulance. "The Bengal minister has been admitted to the private ward after his arrival here. After a screening of his health condition, the minister was taken to a special cabin," an official of the premier medical facility told PTI.
The ED official further added that Partha Chatterjee was taken to Bhubaneswar in an air ambulance with two counsels representing Chatterjee also travelled to the Odisha capital. Earlier in the day, the Bengal minister was taken to the Kolkata airport in an ambulance from the state-run SSKM hospital, where he was undergoing treatment. According to the PTI report, a green corridor was created so that he could reach the airport in around 30 minutes, a Kolkata Police official said.
The West Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee, who is currently the industries and parliamentary affairs minister of the Mamata Banerjee government, was remanded to ED custody till Monday by a lower court in Kolkata. He was the education minister when the alleged teacher recruitment scam took place at West Bengal government-run and-aided schools. The Calcutta HC directed that the minister, be produced before a special ED court in Kolkata through virtual mode at 4 PM on Monday.
(With inputs from PTI)