Kolkata, Jul 19 (IANS): The CBI has directly taken the statutory approval from the West Bengal Governor, C.V. Ananda Bose to carry on the ongoing trial against the former state education minister, Partha Chatterjee in relation to the multi-crore school recruitment case.

Explaining the details of this statutory approval, a legal associate of the central agency said that since Partha Chatterjee is an elected legislator and was also a member of the state cabinet at the time of his arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in July last year, a statutory approval was required to carry on the trial against him either from the state Assembly Speaker or directly from the Governor.

So, he added, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has taken the statutory approval from the Governor.

Although the trial against Chatterjee at a special court of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in Kolkata is already on and charge sheet has been issued against him, the statutory approval from the Governor was necessary to carry on the trial process and frame the final charges.

The ED arrested Chatterjee from his residence on July 23, 2022 after the sleuths recovered huge cash and gold from the twin residences of his close associate Arpita Mukherjee. The assets and properties of both have been confiscated by the central agency sleuths.

In fact, West Bengal Speaker Biman had earlier accused the central agencies of not taking his permission to initiate legal proceedings against the minister and member of the House. So, in order to bring an end to the complications on this count, the CBI has now taken the statutory approval directly from the Governor.

It is expected that with the statutory approval now available, the central agencies might issue the final charge sheet against Chatterjee very soon.