Framing of charges begins against 54 accused in SSC case
Times of India | 27 December 2024
Kolkata: Framing of charges against the 54 accused and companies in the SSC job-for-cash case began at the special PMLA court on Thursday. Four accused, including former education minister Partha Chatterjee, filed a discharge petition.
The Enforcement Directorate said the accused should be charged with section 3 (money laundering and attempting to present them as untainted property), section 4 (punishment for the offence) of the PMLA Act, and section 70 (money laundering by companies). After reviewing the discharge petition, the court will start framing charges.
Chatterjee's lawyer, Biplab Goswami, said the copies of statements recorded under section 50 of the PMLA did not have the necessary signatures. The ED said all the signatures were there, but some might not have been scanned during the copying process. The accused persons' lawyers alleged that the folders containing WhatsApp chats of the former education minister could not be opened during the process.
On Thursday, Chatterjee, Tapas Mandal, Kuntal Ghosh, and Koushik Maji filed discharge petitions, along with consultancy firm S Basu Roychowdhury & Company. The court will hear the petitions on Friday.
Following an order of the Supreme Court, the special PMLA court earlier asked the ED to begin the process of framing charges before Dec 24, but it got delayed as some of the accused said they were not served with the relied-upon documents. A total of 54 accused were served the necessary documents thereafter.
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