Calcutta High Court holds special Sunday sitting; allows plea by ED to shift Partha Chatterjee from Calcutta hospital to AIIMS Bhubaneshwar

In a special sitting held on Sunday, the Calcutta High Court allowed a plea by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to shift West Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee, accused in school jobs scam, from SSKM super speciality hospital in Calcutta to All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Orissa's Bhubaneshwar. .Justice Bibek Chaudhuri allowed the plea after noting that there is a dubious record of Trinamool Congress leaders taking shelter in SSKM hospital on medical grounds when faced with interrogation by authorities. "Under such background and considering the fact that the accused is the senior most Cabinet Minister in the State of West Bengal having immense power and position, it would not be impossible for the accused with the aide of other political executives to take shelter under the garb of serious illness and medical treatment to evade interrogation. If this happens, the Lady Justice will be cursed by the tears of hundreds and thousands of deserving candidates whose future was sacrificed in lieu of money," the Court said.Therefore, ED was allowed to take the accused by air ambulance to AIIMS, Bhubeneswar in the early morning on July 25, 2022. "The accused has to be taken to NSC Bose Airport, Calcutta by an ambulance of SSKM Super speciality Hospital. He will be accompanied by a doctor of SSKM Super speciality hospital and an advocate for the accused," the Court directed.A team of specialist doctors of cardiology, nephrology, respiratory medicines and endocrinology at AIIMS Bhubaneswar has to examine the accused and submit their report by July 25 at 3 pm to the ED, the Court added. The same shall then have to be submitted before the Special PMLA court hearing the case. The order was passed by the Court on a plea by ED challenging two directions passed by Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (in charge), Calcutta on July 23. While the first direction allowed the prayer by Chatterjee to have his lawyer accompany him during the investigation, the second direction had allowed Chatterjee to be taken to SSKM hospital for his check up and treatment, if necessary.The High Court on Sunday set aside both these directions.The first direction was set aside on the ground that it suffered from patent illegality. "This Court is of the view that the order passed by the learned Magistrate allowing an Advocate on behalf of the accused to remain present during his interrogation suffers from patent illegality and liable to be set aside. On this score, this Court profitably records the view of a co-ordinate Bench of the High Court of Delhi in the case of Directorate of Enforcement v. Satyendar Kumar Jain," the Court said.The Court also noted that the allegation against the ED that the advocate of the accused was not allowed to be present at the time of raid was palpably false since examination of the case diary revealed that Chatterjee's lawyer was present during raid conducted by the ED in the house of the accused and he had talked to the accused. Regarding the second direction, the Court proceeded to make adverse observations against the hospital. "It is needless to say that the Doctors start medical treatment of the patient after taking HIPPOCRATIC OATH. Therefore, incredibility of medical practitioners and doctors should not be assumed. However, our experience as a common man with regard to the role of the doctors attached to SSKM Super speciality hospital is not happy. In recent past, more than one high ranking political leaders belonging to the ruling political party were arrested or directed to appear before the investigating authority for interrogation and they successfully avoided interrogation by the investigating agency taking shelter in the said hospital," the order said..The Court, therefore, proceeded to pass the following directions:.- The investigating agency is directed to take the accused by air ambulance to AIIMS, Bhubaneswar in the early morning on July 25, 2022. - The accused shall be taken to NSC Bose Airport, Calcutta by an ambulance of SSKM hospital. - He will be accompanied by a doctor of SSKM hospital and an advocate for the accused. - The AIIMS, Bhubaneswar Authority is directed to medically examine the accused by a team of specialist doctors of Cardiology, Nephrology, Respiratory Medicines and Endocrinology. - The AIIMS, Bhubaneswar will prepare a report and handover the copies of the same to the Investigating Officer, Medical Officer of SSKM hospital and the advocate for the accused by 3:00 p.m. on July 25, 2022.- The investigating officer shall forward soft copy of the above-mentioned medical report to his counterpart in Calcutta who, in turn, shall produce it before the Special Judge under PML Act. - The Special Judge, shall take up the hearing of the case No.ECIR/KLZO-II/19/2022 dated June 24, 2022 at 4:00 pm on July 25, 2022. - The investigating officer shall make necessary arrangement for the production of the accused through the medium of electronic video linkage under amending provision of clause (b) of subsection (2) of Section 167 of the Code of Criminal Procedure..Additional Solicitor General SV Raju and advocates Phiroze Edulj, Anamika Pandey, Amrita Pandey, Ghanshyam Pandey and Sneha Singh appeared for ED. Advocates Debashish Roy, Ayan Bhattacharjee, Soumen Mohanty, Ayan Poddar, Piyush Kumar Ray and Agnish Basu represented Chatterjee..[Read Order]