Kolkata, Oct 20 (IANS): Almost the whole of West Bengal is revelling in the festive spirit of Durga Puja, but for two erstwhile heavyweight leaders of Trinamool Congress -- Partha Chatterjee and Anubrata Mondal -- who will be spending their second consecutive festive season behind the bars.

While Chatterjee, the former West Bengal education minister and Trinamool Congress secretary general, will be at least closer to his roots at Presidency Central Correctional Home in South Kolkata, Mondal will be spending the festival at Tihar Correctional Home in New Delhi.

Chatterjee was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in July last year for his alleged involvement in the multi-crore cash-for-school job case in West Bengal, while Mondal was arrested last year by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) sleuths in connection with the multi-crore cattle smuggling scam.

Though initially Mondal was housed at the same correctional home in South Kolkata, he was shifted to the prison at the national capital later. Although this will be the first year his daughter Sukanya Mondal will also be spending the forthcoming four days of Durga Puja in Tihar.

This will also be the second Puja behind the bars for Chatterjee’s close associate Arpita Mukherjee, from whose two residences ED sleuths recovered huge cash and gold in July last year.

She is currently housed at Alipore Women’s Correctional Home also in South Kolkata.

Even Trinamool Congress legislator and former president of West Bengal Board of Primary Education Manik Bhattacharya, who was arrested by the ED sleuths in connection with the school job case in October 2022, will be spending the festival in incarceration.

So will be the case of his son Souvik Bhattacharya.

The story of another Trinamool Congress legislator Jiban Krishna Saha, is also not different he was arrested this year by the CBI this April.