Kolkata, Dec 14 (IANS): A special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court on Wednesday extended judicial custody for former West Bengal Education Minister and Trinamool Congress secretary general Partha Chatterjee and his close associate Arpita Mukherjee till January 7 in connection with their alleged involvement in the multi-crore teachers' recruitment scam in West Bengal.

Meanwhile, Chatterjee has also moved a plea in the same court for exemption of his name from the supplementary charge sheet filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the teachers' recruitment scam on December 7. However, the matter could not be heard on Wednesday as the ED's counsel informed the court that they need some more time to present his line of argument in the matter. The next hearing in the matter has been scheduled on January 31 next year.

On Wednesday, neither counsel for Chatterjee nor the one for Mukherjee moved any bail pleas on behalf of their clients. Instead, Chatterjee's counsel appealed to the court to direct the ED to submit a report on its progress of investigation in the matter.

At the same time, Chatterjee's counsel also questioned how the central agency was appealing for extension of his custody without seeking any remand or submitting any progress report on the investigation.