Former state education minister Partha Chatterjee was virtually produced in the Special (CBI) Court-I on Wednesday and the judge asked him to raise his hands to see how many rings he was wearing.
Chatterjee, who is in jail custody, had two.
A person in jail custody is not supposed to wear rings or other pieces of jewellery.
The judge’s query was prompted by a request from a lawyer representing the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which had arrested the former minister last year on the charge of money laundering related to alleged irregularities in recruitments in government-aided schools.
Special public prosecutor Phiroze Edulji, who appeared for the agency, submitted in the court that Chatterjee was allowed to retain his rings because of his clout.
Chatterjee told the court that he was not aware about the jail code and no one told him to remove the rings.
“The superintendent of the correctional home failed to discharge his duty under Rule 250 of the West Bengal Jail Code. This proves how influential he (Chatterjee) is and how much privilege he gets even inside the jail,” said Abhijit Bhadra, another lawyer who appeared for the ED.
Chatterjee’s lawyer objected and said his client was “not supposed to know” the jail code.
Chatterjee said at this point that he was not aware of the rules and no one told him the rules.
The judge on Wednesday ordered an in-person appearance of the superintendent of the correctional home in the court at 11am on April 26 with a written explanation “as to whether he was aware about his duty and responsibility as per West Bengal Jail Code or not.”
“And if the answer is in the affirmative, what prevented him from complying with the requirements of the rules mentioned above,” the court ordered.
The judge later said: “He (Chatterjee) undertook to take off his rings if the court so directs. He also mentioned that the rings are made of silver and are not of much value.”
According to Rule 250 of the West Bengal Jail Code, it is the duty of the jailor (superintendent in this case) to ensure that all money, jewellery and other belongings of a person in custody are taken off and “properly entered” in the property of statement (West Bengal Form No. 5158) and other relevant registers.
The judge extended the judicial remand of Chatterjee and co-accused Arpita Mukherjee till June 19.
Chatterjee’s lawyer later said his client had removed the rings.
