Kolkata, Jun 20 (IANS): Former West Bengal Minister Jyotipriya Mallick, who is currently in judicial custody because of his alleged involvement in the cash for school job case, on Thursday, approached a single-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court with a bail petition.

However, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has opposed the bail plea moved on medical grounds. The counsel of the central investigative agency has sought some time from the single-judge bench of Justice Suvra Ghosh to present their arguments in the matter.

Justice Ghosh had approved the plea from ED counsel and given him four days to come prepared with the arguments on his side. The matter will be heard again on June 25.

Mallick, a diabetic and hypertension patient, had been complaining of medical complications at the correctional home for quite some time. A few days after he was sent to judicial custody in the last quarter of 2023, he was admitted to the state-run S.S.K.M. Medical College & Hospital in South Kolkata. However, he was later sent back to the Presidency Central Correctional Home also in South Kolkata.

He has already been named as a prime accused in the ration distribution case in the charge sheet filed by ED. In the charge sheet, the central agency officials have also detailed how the former minister used to divert the ill-gotten proceeds through diverse channels with the help of his close associates.

The charge sheet also detailed how foreign exchange routes were adopted to divert the funds abroad mainly in Bangladesh and Dubai.