Arrested Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee flown to Bhubaneswar in air ambulance: Official

West Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee, arrested in connection with an alleged school jobs scam, was on Monday flown to Odisha capital Bhubaneswar in an air ambulance by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) as per direction of the Calcutta High Court, an official of the agency said. The court on July 24 directed the ED, which had arrested Chatterjee in connection with its probe into the alleged scam, to take to AIIMS Bhubaneswar early on Monday by air ambulance.

“He has been taken to Bhubaneswar in an air ambulance as per the Calcutta High Court direction,” an ED official said.

“Our officials are ready in Odisha airport to receive him,” he added. Chatterjee was taken to the Kolkata airport in an ambulance earlier in the day from state-run SSKM hospital, where he was undergoing treatment.

A green corridor was created so that he could reach the airport here in around 30 minutes, a Kolkata Police official said.

Two of Chatterjee’s counsels are also travelling with him, the ED official said. Chatterjee, now the state industries and parliamentary affairs minister, was remanded to ED custody till Monday by a lower court in Kolkata.

He held the education portfolio when the alleged teacher recruitment irregularities at state government-sponsored and-aided schools took place.

The Calcutta HC directed that the minister, be produced before a special ED court in Kolkata through virtual mode at 4 PM on Monday.